KKME
by wolf-howl91
Summary: A girl is mysteriously transported to Angel Island, and Knuckles assumes that she stole the Master Emerald, as it is no longer there. And then, Angel Island is no longer there. And he is confused. Knuckles/OC
1. Chapter 1

Here's the funny thing about adventures- they never start the way you'd expect. Take Kya's, for example. She was walking over to the bus stop to meet up with her friend Michelle, and had just spotted her, when her body was torn into millions of pieces and pulled into another dimension.

See? Bet you weren't expecting that.

Anyway, her body was torn into millions of pieces and she was pulled into another dimension. Of course, there was a large amount of yelling on her part, and it was quite painful. As soon as she got to the new dimension, she flopped down on her back, and groaned. "Dear God that HURT." She said aloud. Her head felt all fuzzy, and she wasn't able to see straight. She took off her glasses and cleaned them on her shirt.

"What the HELL do you think you're DOING?" Kya lifted her head slightly, and looked over to her left. There was a short red thing running towards her, with a blue thing and a weird tan-orange thing that looked kind of like a fox running along behind. They looked familiar, but not, at the same time…Kya knew what she was talking about.

"Oh God…" She groaned…"Today SUCKS." As she was getting up, the red thing reached her, reached down, and grabbed her hair and pulled her so she was sitting up. "Where's the Emerald? Give it back!" The red thing ordered. "Give back the Master Emerald!"

"OW! Let go of my hair, you asshole!" Kya reached up and grabbed the red thing's hand. She dug her nails in, which usually rewarded her with a yelp. Today, the red thing's grip just tightened. "OW! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Knuckles, let her go!" The blue thing told the red thing. Kya decided she liked the blue thing. "We all saw it, there's no way she could have taken the Master Emerald."

"Yeah? Then where is it?" Knuckles pulled on Kya's hair, and Kya yelped. "She HAD to have taken it!"

"Sonic's right, she didn't take it on purpose. Now let her go, and we can talk to her." The tan-orange thing said.

Knuckles growled, but he relaxed his grip somewhat. "Now, where did the Emerald go?" He barked.

"No clue, man, no clue!" Kya grabbed hold of her hair just below Knuckles's grip, and pulled herself free. She pushed herself away from him, and massaged her head. "First things first-Where am I, and who are you guys?"

"You're on Angel Island, and I'm Tails." Tails told her. "Knuckles is the one who grabbed you, and the other one's Sonic."

"I'm Kya, pleased to meet you. Now that all the pleasantries are out of the way, WHERE THE HELL AM I?" Kya yelled. "WHY DOES THE RED THING HATE ME? WHAT THE HELL _ARE_ YOU PEOPLE?"

Sonic cringed, and rubbed his ear. "Yelling's not helping, you realize."

"SO?" Kya waved her arms around. "THIS SITUATION REQUIRES YELLING!"

"It might not, actually-" Tails began, when their bodies were torn into millions of pieces and pulled into another dimension.

Bet you weren't expecting that either, were you?

Anyway, they had switched dimensions again. As soon as they touched ground, Knuckles jumped and grabbed Kya's hair again. "See? This proves it! She stole the Emerald, and tried to get away!"

"KYA?" Kya looked around Knuckles, and saw Michelle standing on the corner, mouth hanging wide open.

"Mic-OW! Cut that out!" She told Knuckles, who had just yanked on her hair again. "I told you, I don't know anything about you Emerald!"

"Knuckles!" Sonic yelled. "Leave the poor girl alone, and calm down!"

Knuckles begrudgingly let go of Kya, and sat down on the road beside her, "I'm keeping an eye on you." He warned.

"…So?" Kya glared at him. "You're a red furry thing, I'm not afraid."

"Oh yeah?" Knuckles stood up to his full almost three foot height, and glared back at Kya.

"Yeah!" Kya straightened to her –much more impressive- almost six feet, and glared just as hard at Knuckles.

"You two are stopping that now!" Tails yelled. "Knuckles-" He pointed at Knuckles. "We are going to talk to this girl, and find out what happened. Kya-" He pointed at Kya. "Stop bickering with Knuckles. It isn't helping."

"But-" They both began at the same time. Tails cut them both off. "No buts. Kya, can we go to your home and do some tests?"

"Fine, whatever." Kya shrugged. She didn't really feel like arguing with a fox-who, on closer inspection, had two tails- so it was time to go with the flow.

"Good. Knuckles, you can keep guarding her if you like, but no more hair-pulling." Knuckles considered for a moment, and nodded.

"Kya, what the hell is going on?" Michelle had finally come to her senses, and had run over to Kya. "You were walking towards me, and then you disappeared!"

"And stole my Emerald!" Knuckles interrupted.

"Knuckles!" Sonic barked. "Leave her alone!" Knuckles growled, and crossed his arms, but he did as he was told. "Now, c'mon." Sonic said gruffly to Kya. "Do you want your friend to come along?"

"Yeah, but does Knuckles have to come?"

"Hey! YOU stole MY Emerald!" Knuckles protested. "You should be on your knees, begging me to forgive you!"

"Funny then, isn't it? I'm not going to." Kya flashed Knuckles an evil smile, and began walking down the road to her house. Michelle ran to catch up with her, and said in a low voice, "Kya, isn't he Knuckles?"

Kya looked over her shoulder, and then back at Michelle. "How do you know his name?"

"Kya, he's KNUCKLES." Seeing Kya's blank look, Michelle sighed. "The ECHIDNA."

Kya gasped, and turned around again. "He IS! And, and and, that's Sonic! And Tails!" She snapped her fingers. "They're talking about the Master Emerald! OH my God, how come I didn't recognize them, and you did?"

"I have a better question." Sonic and Tails had caught up and were walking along beside them, with Knuckles tailing behind. "How come you recognize us?" Sonic asked Michelle.

"You're Sonic." Kya interrupted.

"Yes…" Sonic said, clearly waiting for more. "And…?"

Kya rolled her eyes. "The HEDGEHOG."

"So?" Sonic crossed his arms.

Kya opened her mouth to say something, when suddenly pain shot up in her head so badly she almost fell over. "Ow…" She groaned, holding her head. A dagger of pain dug further into her head, and she did fall over.

"Kya!" She heard Michelle cry, just before she hit something soft. Looking down, she saw red arms holding her, and then she passed out.

Kya shot up in bed suddenly. "Lucas!" She yelled, before blinding pain in her head forced her to lie down again. She yelled again from the bed, "Lucas!"

"Shh, shh honey, he's at work." Michelle was sitting beside her bed with a damp washcloth. "Don't worry, I'm here."

"What happened?" Kya croaked as Michelle was her forehead with the cloth. "Why does my head hurt so much?"

"You passed out when we were walking home, and Knuckles caught you. He carried you here, and put you in your bed. You've been unconscious for the past two hours.

"Why…" Was all she managed to say, before the pain in her head made her stop.

"We don't know. Tails thinks it's a side effect from the dimension hopping, and it should go away soon. He wanted to do some tests to make sure, but I didn't let him."

"Where is everyone?" Kya asked, sitting up a bit. Her head stopped pounding, and it didn't hurt nearly as much as before.

"Sonic and Tails are downstairs, and Knuckles is-" She didn't manage to finish her sentence before Knuckles burst into the room.

"Is she awake?" He asked. Seeing that she was, he immediately asked, "What did you do with the Emerald?"

"I told you, I have no idea what happened to the Master Emerald!" Kya groaned, falling back on her bed.

"Kya?" Tails and Sonic poked their heads into her room, and seeing that she was fine, came in. "Kya, if we can get some blood testing equipment, we can find out what happened to you." Tails said. "And the Master Emerald." He said quickly, seeing Knuckles open his mouth.

"Um, my neighbour has diabetes, go ask him for his stuff, maybe." Kya said, putting her hands behind her head. "It might work; otherwise we'll have to go to a hospital."

"Great. Let's go." Tails turned to leave, and turned around again. "Where does your neighbour live?"

"I'll take you." Michelle interrupted before Kya could open her mouth. "Sonic, Knuckles, I want Kya to get some sleep, so you come along with us."

"No!" Knuckles protested. "She's trying to steal the Emerald! I need to watch her, to make sure she doesn't try and run away!"

"Ugh, I'm not trying to steal your damn Emerald!" Kya said, covering her eyes with her hands. "I'm going to try and take a nap!" She turned over and buried her head underneath her blankets. "Go. Now. Stop the pain." They could hear her muffled speech.

Michelle shrugged, and led Sonic and Tails out of the room. Knuckles sat down on the floor across from Kya's bed, and watched her. After a few minutes of this, Kya said, "I wanted to say thanks."

That, quite honestly, being the last thing Knuckles expected her to say, confused Knuckles quite a bit. He thought for a while, trying to come up with a deep and thought provoking response. He finally settled with, "You're welcome."

"Don't you want to know what I'm thanking you for?" Kya sat up in bed, a teasing smile on her face.

Knuckles blushed and shook his head, then changed his mind and nodded.

Kya laughed, and said, "For catching me when I fainted. That was really nice of you, considering that you thought I stole your Emerald."

"Again, you're welcome." They both fell silent.

After a few more moments, Knuckles broke the silence. "Jeez, how far away does your neighbour live, anyway?"

"Not that far, but they're probably trying to convince him to lend us his blood-testing equipment." Kya snuggled into her bed again. "I really wasn't trying to steal your Emerald, you know." She said. "I know how much it means to you."

"How?" Knuckles asked, clearly confused. Before Kya could answer, Sonic burst into the room.

"We got the stuff!" He said proudly. Tails and Michelle came into the room, laden down with equipment.

"Kya, we're going to take some blood, and do some tests on it. Tails says he knows what he's doing, so I'm letting him handle it." Michelle said, coming over and poking Kya in the arm with a needle.

"Ow…" Kya said, rubbing her arm after Michelle pulled the needle out. "That hurt. Anyway, I'm going to take a nap now, do the tests and tell me the results when I wake up." She closed her eyes, and heard everyone very loudly try to get out of her room quietly. Except Knuckles, of course. He made as much noise as possible, saying things like, "She's not asleep yet, we don't need to be quiet!" Eventually, Sonic and Tails got him out of the room, and Kya fell into a much deserved sleep.

When Kya woke up again, Knuckles was in her room, glaring at her. "Oh God, what did I do now?" She asked, whimpering a little. "Why do you hate me so much?"

"Because you stole the Emerald!" Knuckles barked, standing up quickly. "You did SOMETHING to the Emerald, and stole it!"

"You know what? I'm not taking this attitude from you." Kya struggled to sit up in bed, and failed. After a few tries, she managed to swing her legs over the side and get out of bed. Glaring at Knuckles the entire time, she stumbled out of the room and downstairs.

Her older brother Lucas was sitting at the table, head buried in his hands. "Hey Lu…" Kya said, dragging out the final syllable in his name. "How's it shaking?"

Lucas looked at Kya with blood-shot eyes. "You are aware the little red thing is following you again."

Kya whirled around, and saw Knuckles dart behind a corner. "Knuckles, stop it." She turned back to her brother. "So, I take it you know about the whole, 'traveling to another dimension' thing?"

"Kya, do you want to know who told me about you going to another dimension?" Lucas stood up and went over to the sink, where he started to wash dishes. "A fox. With two tails. His friend, the bright blue hedgehog, helped explain as well." He sighed, and wiped absentmindedly at his forehead. "That fact that they were characters in a video game I played as a child really helped convince me I wasn't on drugs."

"Yeah, um, sorry about that. Where are Sonic and Tails, anyway?" Kya rubbed the back of her neck and blushed, embarrassed that she had to ask that question.

"They're in the living room, playing that collection of Sonic games you have for the PS2." Lucas laughed and shook his head. "The fact that there's a video game series about them blew their minds. You haven't lived until you've seen a thoroughly confused blue anthropomorphic hedgehog."

Kya laughed, and went into the living room, Knuckles skulking behind. Sonic was waving around the game controller, when Tails began yelling, "No, no, it's the X button to jump, you moron!"

Sonic yelled back, "I know that, idiot!" He then stuck his tongue out the side of his mouth and proceeded to ignore the rest of them.

Tails turned to Kya with an indignant look on his face. "Why didn't you tell us there's a video game series based on us?" He demanded.

"Video game?" Knuckles topped hiding behind the door and spying on Kya, and came into the room, where he was immediately distracted by the television. "Oooh…" He said, walking towards the screen. "Hey, you're…you."

"Engh," said Sonic, who was completely and utterly absorbed in the game. "Die evil robot, die!"

Knuckles sat down on the floor, and began to yell advice at Sonic. Tails and Kya watched him for a moment, then started up their conversation again.

"Well, I had more pressing issues on my mind. Speaking of which, what exactly happened?" Kya frowned and crossed her arms.

Tails sighed, and beckoned her into a part of the living room further away from the television. "Knuckles, you should come too." Looking at Kya, he explained, "Knuckles wouldn't leave your door when you were asleep because he was guarding you. He's as in the dark as you are."

Kya sat on the floor and steepled her fingers. "I'm not sure if I'm touched or just creeped out." Knuckles, after watching Sonic fall into a pool of water and die, came and sat beside Kya.

"What happened to the Emerald?" were the first words out of his mouth. "If Kya didn't steal it, then where did it go? And, why wouldn't she steal it? Is there something wrong with it?"

"Knuckles, let me fin- no, let me START my story." Tails sat down in front of the pair, when Lucas entered the room.

"This sounds like something a legal guardian should hear about." He said in answer to everyone's questioning looks "Go on Tails, no one's stopping ya."

Tails glared at everyone for a second, and began. "Kya, when you were pulled into our world, you had a reaction with the Master Emerald."

"Hold on just a sec here." Lucas interrupted. "It's been a while since I've played the games- what does the Master Emerald DO exactly?"

"It does everything." Knuckles said before Tails could open his mouth. "It has the power to neutralize the Chaos Emeralds, and to control them as well. It has unlimited power, and it is my duty to guard that power and not let it fall into the wrong hands." Here he glared at Kya briefly before continuing. "No one knows exactly what it can do, that knowledge was lost."

"When the ancient Echidna Tribe died, they took their secrets with them." Kya interrupted. Knuckles gazed at her for a moment, until she stuck her tongue out at him. Then, the moment was lost.

"Yes, well, anyway, Kya was fused with the Master Emerald." Tails continued, annoyed that everyone was interrupting his story. "Thus following, she has the powers that the Master Emerald has."

Everyone mulled that over for a moment, and then it hit Kya and Knuckles at the same time. "It did WHAT now?" They both shot up and yelled.

"I'm a really big rock?" Kya yelled tearfully.

"SHE'S the Master Emerald?" Knuckles yelled angrily. As Tails nodded meekly, Knuckles flew into a bit of a blind rage. We won't tell you what he did, or what he broke, but let it suffice to say that Kya and Lucas needed a new light…on the ceiling.

Once they managed to calm Knuckles down (it involved a few knocks to the head, courtesy of Kya and Lucas) he was rational enough to answer the question, "How the hell do we get it outta her?"

"Yeah, how the hell DO we get it outta me?" Kya asked anxiously.

Tails looked down at his feet. "Well, now see, the thing here is," He told the floor, "We can't, not really. It's infused with every one of your cells."

"Okay…" Knuckles said, rubbing his chin. "Now, roughly, how many cells does she have? Ten? Fifteen?"

"Tens of thousands." Tails said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And the Master Emerald is inside each of them."

"BOOH YA!" Sonic yelled from the other side of the room. He had just beaten the Flying Battery Zone in Sonic and Knuckles, so he was very happy. He hadn't heard anything the group on the other side of the room had said, and he didn't really care. This doesn't have anything to do with the story, but Sonic hadn't said anything in a while, so that was his input on the whole situation.

"Okay…" Knuckles said again, completely ignoring Sonic, "So can we just take the fragments out of the cells and put them in a pile, or what?"

Everyone stared at Knuckles for a moment. After a while, Lucas said, "I don't remember you being so utterly retarded when I played the games as a kid."

"What? It was an honest question!" Knuckles threw his hands up in the air as everyone sighed and died a little bit inside. "Let's go already, huh? I wanna get my Emerald and go home!"

"Knuckles, there are three things wrong with your plan. One- It's physically impossible. Two- Even if it WERE possible (which it isn't), Kya would die. There is no way she wouldn't. Three- We have no idea how we got here. We also have no idea how to get home." Tails explained.

"Oh." Knuckles said, looking down at his feet. He looked so broken-hearted that Kya wanted to hug him, and almost went to, when she heard his voice. Inside her head.

_Now I'll never get the Master Emerald, and I'll be stuck here forever…_

She looked at him quizzically. "Do that again." She ordered.

"…Do what?" He asked, confused. "Look at my feet?"

"No, that thing where I could read your mind." Kya insisted. "Do that again."

"…Huh?"

"OH!" Tails said suddenly, so loudly Lucas jumped a bit. But before Lucas could yell at him for making him look stupid, Tails began chattering excitedly. "Knuckles, do you remember that time the Master Emerald broke, and Angel Island came crashing down, and you had to go find the Emerald? Course you do, you couldn't forget that. Anyway, you were able to find the Emerald then, with that weird Emerald sense! You were able to get INTO its mind, but since it's an emerald, you weren't able to read its nonexistent thoughts, so you never realized you had this ability, but now since Kya IS the Emerald, she's able to hear your thoughts, and, by all likelihood, you should be able to read hers!" Tails finished, completely out of breath and more than a little proud of himself.

"…Huh?" This time, it was Kya and Lucas.

"No, wait, I get it!" Knuckles (somehow ignoring the fact that he had gloves on) snapped his fingers. "Kya, think something at me!"

_I really like the colour blue._ The thought rang loud and clear in Knuckles's mind. He looked at her, frowning a bit. "That's seriously the best you could come up with?"

"At the moment, yes."

That moment, they were interrupted by Sonic. "Hey, uh, Kya?" Lucas? Your television just told me that there's a government warning. What does that mean?"

"What?" Lucas strode across the room, and sat down in a chair in front of the television. He watched the screen intently. Sonic had stopped playing the video game and had turned on the news.

"If you are just tuning into our broadcast, a giant ROBOT is attacking the nearby city. You are advised to stay inside, and DO NOT LEAVE for any reason. The police force is doing what it can to stop the robot, but so far, attempts prove futile."

Sonic glanced at Tails. "Eggman?"

"Gotta be. Knuckles, you stay here and guard Kya. She might be what Robotnik's looking for." Sonic and Tails ran out the front door, disappearing in about two and a half seconds.

"The robot has reached the mayor's office, and- Oh my God, what the hell is THAT thing?" They turned back to the television, and saw on the live video feed that Sonic and Tails had reached the robot, and were attacking it.

"Folks, this just in- what's attacking the robot is- and this is according to Timmy the tech-boy- Sonic the Hedgehog, with his friend Tails the Fox- wait, hold on." The reported was holding his ear piece and listening intently. "Timmy's wrong, the blue thing is a government weapon, and the flying orange thing is a supplies carrier."

They all watched, as Sonic and Tails fought Robotnik, and let out a cheer as they won. "I knew they could do it!" Knuckles exclaimed. "But, what's that stuff about Sonic being a weapon?"

"Think for a minute. People aren't going to believe that a character from a video game is fighting a robot in the city." Lucas crossed his arms and grinned. "Still, that would be kick-ass."

"Tails was right, by the way." Sonic said, skidding in the front door. "Eggman was after Kya."

Lucas frowned at what was being down to his floor, while Kya asked, "Because I'm the Emerald?"

"Yeah." Tails said ,flying in the door. "Also, the seven Chaos Emeralds made it through as well. Sonic, we have to find them before Robotnik does."

"Right." Sonic nodded as he spoke. "Knuckles, we need you to guard the Master Emerald- Er, I mean Kya."

"Right." Knuckles nodded.

"Wait a minute!" Kya yelled. "Don't I have any say in this? I don't need to be guarded!"

"Kya, you don't know what Robotnik would do to get a hold of you." Knuckles said seriously. "It's very likely that you're the most powerful thing on the planet right now. You have the power to create and destroy worlds, you can do anything."

"…Really?" Kya looked at her hands in amazement. "Wow…"

"Um, that's not exactly correct." Tails said, butting in. "It's seems that the Master Emerald is too diluted to really have any powers."

"So, what you're saying is that I don't get squat." Kya sat down on a chair and plopped her head in her hands. "Dang, I thought I was going to be something cool."

"To be fair, you can read Knuckles's mind." Lucas sat on the armrest and rubbed her back.

"Not much in there, but it's something." Sonic told her kindly.

"HEY!"

"Anyway, Sonic, we should start looking for the Chaos Emeralds." Tails interrupted before a fight could break out.

"Yeah." Sonic nodded. "Well, gotta go!" He dashed out the door without a glance back.

"Hey! Sonic! Wait up a sec!" Tails turned back to the group. "We'll be coming back every once in a while, to let you know how our progress is going. We'll find a way to fix this, don't worry!" He flew out the door, yelling, "Wait up Sonic!"

Lucas, Kya and Knuckles all stared at each other. After a few moments of this, Lucas said, "Well, this is awkward. Kya, go get some dinner. I don't feel like cooking." He took his wallet out of his pants and threw it at his sister. With that, he went into his room and closed the door.

This left only Kya and Knuckles staring at each other. "So, do you still think I'm going to steal the Master Emerald, considering that I AM the Master Emerald?" Kya asked.

Knuckles shrugged. "Since Tails said it wasn't your fault, and that there is no way you could have done it on purpose, I'm inclined to believe him. So, no, I'm sure the Master Emerald is fine within your capable hands." He gave a mocking bow.

"Well, good then." That left them again just standing in the living room. Kya hummed a bit. "Well, I'm going to go get dinner." Kya said, going to the door and putting on her jacket.

"Whoa!" Knuckles ran so he was in between her and the door. "Where do you think YOU'RE going?"

"…To get some dinner. Now move, I'm hungry."

"No! You're the most powerful person on the planet! I have to guard you!"

Kya glared at Knuckles. "What did we JUST talk about? You said you weren't going to be all creepy-possessive!"

"No, I said I wasn't going to worry about you stealing the Master Emerald." Knuckles corrected. "I didn't say anything about guarding the Emerald from people who want to steal it, such as Robotnik."

Kya sighed, and gently nudged Knuckles out of the way. "Whatever. Let's go."

After a brief incident at the fast food place, involving an old lady and her dog, Knuckles and Kya had gotten dinner for everyone. Kya rode her bike, dinner in the basket, while Knuckles glided behind her.

"Stop being so paranoid!" She called over her shoulder. "It's really creepy!"

"I'm not being paranoid, I'm being cautious!" He yelled back, surveying the area. "Watch out for that pothole!"

Kya smiled as she swerved to avoid said pothole. "Are you going to do this from now on?"

"Until we get the Master Emerald back on Angel Island, yes."

"Well, that su-!" Kya's voice cut off suddenly as she hit a huge dip in the road. As she zigzagged her bike, trying not to fall, she overshot and crashed into a tree. "OW!"

"Kya!" Knuckles swooped down and landed beside her gracefully. "Are you alright? Do you think the Emerald's okay?"

"Emerald's fine, ankle's not so hot." Kya winced as she pushed herself off the grass. "Bike could be better, and I don't want to even THINK about our food."

"Can you walk? Here." Without waiting for her to answer, Knuckles picked up Kya in one hand and her bike in the other. "If your ankle's hurt, you shouldn't be walking." He said over her protestations. "Don't worry; I'm as strong as Sonic is fast. I won't drop you."

Only a few dozen people stopped and stared as Kya was carried down the street by a bright red echidna carrying a bicycle, so she thanked God for small favours.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N--Hey, S here. Sorry this one's a bit shorter, but...you know. Anyway, I forgot to mention last chapter, there's artwork to go along with the story! Yeah, it's over on my deviantART account, and I'll put up links at the bottom. 'cept, you know, not real links, 'cause doesn't allow it. Oh well. You'll get it, heh.

Thank you everyone who reviewed! Fluffy1984, and Azure Inu! Thank you soooo much for the support you've given E and me.

Enjoy the story!

_----- _

_I thought we'd agreed you wouldn't do that anymore. _

Knuckles blushed, and crossed his arms over his chest. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Kya looked up from her textbook with a smirk. _Oh, I think you do. _

Knuckles had been living with Kya and Lucas for about a week now, and it was going…not as swimmingly as one should have hoped. Kya had been prepared to live with a small red echidna following her everywhere, but she hadn't quite…_adjusted _to it yet. Take this, for example. This incident occurred two days after Knuckles had moved in…

_Dawn broke. The sun rose over the horizon, and Kya Morris had just stumbled her way into her bathroom to take her morning shower. However, unknown to her, a small red echidna had other plans..._

_Lucas Morris had just poured his first cup of coffee, and was breathing it in, when he heard his younger sister shriek. Turning towards the bathroom where she was taking her shower, he saw his sister, clad only in a towel with a face that would make a tomato jealous, push a startled echidna out the door, slamming it shut behind him_

_Lucas sighed, and went over to Knuckles "Knux, let me give you a little advice. When Kya goes into the room at the end of the hall-" Here he pointed with his coffee cup, "And you hear the sound of water running, there is no chance whatsoever that someone will break in and try to steal the Master Emerald, so you don't need to guard her while she is in there."_

Knuckles had only attempted twice more to try and guard her in there.

"I honestly have no idea what you're talking about." Knuckles said hotly, refusing to look at Kya.

Kya stood up slowly, and walked over to him. She let down the barriers in her mind, letting him dive in deeply. She then conjured up the most disturbing sexual images she could think of.

"EW!" Knuckles fell off of the counter, where he had been sitting, watching Kya do her homework. "You're disgusting!"

"Yeah? Then quit trying to read my mind!" Kya growled, sitting back down at the table, where she was struggling through very difficult math problems.

Kya and Knuckles had sat down together, and had decided to discover exactly how much of each other's minds they could read. It turns out, they could only hear thoughts that the other was projecting, and they could keep their thoughts secret, if they wanted to. Of course, Knuckles didn't want the Master Emerald thinking anything he wasn't part of, so was forever trying to break into Kya's mind.

RING! RING!

Knuckles took a flying leap towards the table. "WATCH OUT!" He dive-bombed Kya, and knocked her to the floor. He crouched over her, unleashing his Shovel Claws.

RING! RING!

Kya sighed from the floor. "Knuckles. It's the phone. Can you let me up now?"

Knuckles scowled, but her let her get up and go towards the phone. He kept a watchful eye on her as she picked up part of the 'phone', and put it close to her ear. "Hello?" Her face visibly relaxed. "Maggie! Hi! No, sorry, I saw that with Michelle already. Tell you what- You and the guys come over here. I've been cooped up in my house for the last week, and haven't seen you guys. No, Lu ain't here, but let's just say, I've got the most guarding guardian of all time." She listened for a moment, and laughed. "Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. An hour ago would be nice." She hung up the phone and smiled. "Maggie and everyone are coming over!"

"Who's Maggie? Who are these 'everyone' you speak of?" Knuckles demanded. "I'm not sure I want them over here."

"Well, one's Michelle, and you've met her. The other's are trust-worthy, I've known most of them all my life." Kya crossed her arms. "Do you want to interview them when they come in the house?"

Knuckles nodded seriously. Kya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, sure, why not. It's not like this isn't going to be the most awkward moment of my life anyway."

When the doorbell rang, Knuckles had to restrain himself from jumping on Kya. She smiled at him. "Good job!" She went to open the door.

A crowd of people-about seven in total- fell through the door. The group was made up of six girls and one boy, and Knuckles hated them all at first sight.

"KYA!" One of them tried to hug her, and Knuckles jumped to action. He darted in, grabbed Kya, and pulled her away.

"From now on, no one touches her!" He barked from atop the fridge. "You got that? No one!"

He was greeted with silence. He relaxed his grip on Kya. "Alright then."

Kya sighed, and repositioned herself on the fridge. "Guys, meet Knuckles." No one said anything. "He's an echidna." Kya added helpfully. "Echidnas come from Australia. But, not Knuckles. He comes from Angel Island, an island floating above a world in a different dimension, which, incidentally, I got pulled into last week by some strange occurrence. Funny how life works, inn't?" She let out a short laugh.

No one said anything for a moment, then Michelle said, "So. Now you see why I couldn't tell any of you what happened to Kya over the phone."

"So, let me get this straight." Milo said, pushing his hair out of his eyes. "You're a really big rock?"

"Technically, yes." Kya wiggled her feet. "But the rock has unspeakable powers, so that's cool."

Maggie sighed, and leaned back on the couch. "Kya, there's really no hope left for you at all, is there?"

Kya shook her head cheerfully. "Nope!"

Kya had explained what had happened to her, and her friends seemed to be taking it rather well. Knuckles wasn't quite sure what to think of her friends.

First, there was Michelle. Smart, short, with orange hair. Knuckles had talked to her before, and she seemed pretty much able to deal with things. He trusted her…Somewhat.

Then, Maggie. Shorter than Kya, with dark spiky hair. She seemed to have gotten used to weird things happening to her friends, and was taking it in stride. Knuckles didn't quite trust her. She seemed almost TOO used to odd things happening, if you know what he means.

Sasha. Short, with hair the same colour as Michelle's. She didn't seem to believe what had happened, and kept protesting that Knuckles couldn't exist, he was a video game character. He didn't trust her at all. If she wasn't willing to believe he existed, she didn't deserve to be trusted.

Milo. The one person taller than Kya, who had rather poofy hair. He didn't trust him either- who knew what he could be hiding in that hair?

Melly. Short, and loud. He just didn't like her that much-reminded him of Sonic, but if Sonic was somewhat more… extreme.

Sam- Quiet. Tall, with brown hair. It was always the quiet ones who went insane and killed all their friends, and stole emeralds. Needless to say, he didn't trust her either.

Nikki- Very short, almost Knuckles's height. She often smiled a weird smile that almost seemed she was hiding something….

Knuckles scowled from atop the entertainment center, where he could watch over Kya.

"I shall be right back, ladies and gentleman…" Kya said, getting up from the couch. "Knuckles, I'm going into the little room again." She said when she saw him getting up. He settled back down. Kya left the room, with an odd little bow.

"Why does it matter what room she goes in?" Melly asked the room at large.

"She doesn't like me to guard her when she goes into that room." Knuckles explained. "Lucas says that there is no chance that's she'll be attacked in there."

Maggie and Nikki seemed to have miniature seizures at the same time, spitting out their drinks and starting to cough. After they had been cured of this affliction,

Nikki asked, with that weird smile, "So, you tapped her yet?"

"…What?"

"She's hot, have you tapped her yet?" Nikki said slowly. "I mean, c'mon!"

"Um…What?" Knuckles was completely and utterly confused.

"Nikki, don't tease him." Michelle hit Nikki on the arm. " 'Sides." She added. "That was perhaps that most disgusting thing I have ever heard you say."

"You know me." Nikki gave Maggie a glance, and they both burst out laughing. Knuckles was more confused than ever.

_Kya? _ He thought out. _Kya, can you hear me? _

_Knuckles, do you mind? _ He heard her say in his head. _I'm kinda busy. _

_Don't worry, this'll be quick. _He assured her. _What does, 'tapped' mean?_

…_What?_

_Nikki asked me if I had tapped you yet, and I don't know if 'tapped' means something different in your world._

He heard a loud noise come from the other room, and then Kya ran in the room, eyes blazing. "YOU ASKED HIM WHAT?!" She screamed at Nikki. "THAT IS **GROSS**!"

"…I want to know how the hell she found out, before I say anything." Nikki said after a moment.

"We share a physic mind connection, thank you very much." Kya said bitterly. She flung herself down on the couch. "I don't appreciate you asking him things like that."

"Sorry, but I thought he was sixteen?" Nikki asked. "I mean, shouldn't he know about stuff like that?"

"OKAYCONVERSATIONOVERNOW." Kya said very loudly and quickly. "Moving on!"

They spent the rest of the afternoon screwing around, with everyone bothering Knuckles to no end. Eventually, Nikki came up to him and apologized. "I shouldn't have made you feel that uncomfortable." She apologized. "It was pretty rude of me."

"Yeah, kinda sorta." Knuckles shrugged. "It's alright though- Kya won't tell me what you mean."

"Yeah, you don't wanna know." Nikki scratched her nose, a little embarrassed. "Anyway, you hadn't noticed that she was hot?"

"…Huh?"

"Nothing, nothing. But, she's hot. You really hadn't noticed?" Nikki stared at him, then Maggie called her over to the other side of the room. With that funny little smile, she jogged off.

Knuckles sat, and watched Kya for a little while. She was leaning over, fighting with her video game controller. Her hair brushed across her hands, because it was so long. She laughed at something Milo said, and tossed her hair over her shoulder so it wasn't touching anyone anymore.

_She's not THAT pretty. _Knuckles decided. _I'm mean, she's not bad to look at, but she's not that great. _

A slight blush coloured Kya's cheeks, and Knuckles realized that he was projecting his thoughts. He quickly thought, _She doesn't look that strong, I bet I could take her._

Kya's blush disappeared, and she gave Knuckles a dirty look. He shrugged, and she proceeded to ignore him for the rest of the day.

Later, when her friends had left and Lucas had come home and they had eaten dinner, Kya went to bed early. Lying sideways so she could see Knuckles leaning against the wall across the room from her bed, she asked, "What made you start thinking I wasn't half bad to look at?"

"Your friend, the short one. The really short one. She said something about you being pretty, and it got me thinking about it."

"Oh, Nikki." Kya fell back on her bed and laughed. "She was just teasing you- she does that a lot. Just ignore her."

"Planning on it."

"Hmm." Kya closed her eyes and hummed a little bit. "We need to get you a bed." She said suddenly. "Or a chair, or something."

"I'm fine with the wall." Knuckles said sullenly, crossing his arms. "I need to stay alert, in case something happens to you."

"Fine, fine." Kya rolled her eyes behind the lids. "I still say we should get you a chair."

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http// wolf-howl89. deviantart. com / art / KKME - part - one - illustration - 64420426

That's the artwork for part one. Just remove the spaces, and it should work. dA is being difficult right now (of course it would be acting up when I needed it), so you'll get the link to the second piece of artwork in the third chapter. Or, you can look in on our dA account in the next few days, the artwork should be up soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Hi everyone! Thank you sooooo much if you've reviewed--reviews are like food to us writers. We wither and die without them.

Sorry for the loooong waits between updates! ; The drawings that E does take a while, since she's really busy with life, school, what-not.

Link to illistrations at bottom of page--for chapters two and three, since deviantart was annoying last time I updated.

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"Knuckles, I've been meaning to ask you this for a while…" Kya and Knuckles were outside in the backyard, in a tree. Knuckles liked it because it was a good vantage point- he could see all around them, watching out for people trying to steal the Emerald, and stay well hidden. Kya liked it because she got to sit in a tree.

"What?" Knuckles looked down at Kya. She was leaning against the trunk, quietly making a bracelet. Knuckles himself was one branch above Kya, keeping a lookout. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, as you know, in our world, there are many versions of you- Comic book version, game version, anime version, that sorta thing. What I wanted to know was, what version are you?" Kya finished one part of her bracelet and tied it off.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Knuckles swung himself down to her branch. With his light weight and small stature, he was able to stand on strong branches quite well.

"Well, what have you done in life? Like, who do you know?" Kya insisted. "What life have you led?"

Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I've lived on Angel Island my whole life, and don't know that many people. I only met Sonic and Tails by chance-they were out riding the Tornado, and accidentally found my island."

Kya rolled her eyes. "That could be any version of you. Here, lemmie help." She moved suddenly-Knuckles jumped forward, thinking she was falling. It turns out, Kya was just repositioning herself on the branch, and Knuckles was now hugging her.

"What are you doing?" Kya asked, blushing a little bit.

"Saving your life." Knuckles answered, blushing just as much as Kya.

"…Oh." Kya pulled herself away from Knuckles, and he let her go easily. "Anyways," Kya said, pushing her hair out of her face, "Did you ever know anyone named Princess Sally Acorn?"

"…That's quite possibly the most retarded name I have ever heard. No, I haven't." Knuckles crossed his arms.

"Okay, you aren't the American Sonic the Comic at least…Okay, have you ever known someone named 'Cosmo'?"

"Why does everyone I'm supposed to know have a silly name? No, I don't know anyone named that. " Knuckles un-crossed his arms and gaped at Kya. "That's stupid."

"Okay, makes sense." Kya bent her knees and hugged them to her chest. "Not Sonic X anime. I'm taking it for granted you don't know anyone named Sonia or Manic…?" Knuckles shook his head. Kya smiled. "Not Sonic Underground. Okay, you're from the video games."

Knuckles could hear some of her thoughts, but she was trying to block them from him. But, she either wasn't trying very hard, or Knuckles was getting better at cracking into her mind.

_Good….no…….-su…….makes life easier._

Knuckles decided not to ask what she was thinking of. "Can we go play some of the video games?" He asked instead.

"I guess so…why?" Kya asked, slightly confused. When Knuckles first came over to her world, he enjoyed playing the video games, laughing at the computer images of him. Lately though, he hadn't seemed to want to play them that often.

"I want to see if they're based off of my life, or my life is based off of them." He said seriously. "To see if what happens to me, happens to me BECAUSE of me, or because someone wrote it like that."

Kya thought for a moment. "…You make a very good point." She said finally. "I know if it was me, I'd want to know. How're we going to test it?"

"…You were supposed to think that far ahead."

"If you want to know what I think…" A voice floated up from below them. Kya jumped slightly, and Knuckles again moved to save her from falling, but she caught herself in time. Waving her hand to let him now she was all right, she called, "Lucas, it's really annoying when you do that!"

"Well, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to get used to it- Most people aren't able to alert you to their presence in your mind. Anyway, I came out here for a reason-Dinner's ready." They couldn't see it, but they could hear Lucas walk back inside the house. The door opened, but before it closed, Lucas called out, "If you want some advice on how to tell the game thing, talk to me. I have an idea." The door slammed shut.

Knuckles watched carefully as Kya climbed down the tree. If it looked like she might fall, he jumped to catch her.

Eventually- After five, almost-but-not-quite- falls, and five –being-paranoid-and-jumping-WAY-too-early catches, Knuckles and Kya made it back inside the house.

"What's for dinner?" Kya asked, as she sat down at the table. Knuckles positioned himself against the wall.

Lucas came into the dining room, holding a huge pot. When he saw Knuckles, he frowned. "Knuckles, sit at the table. We've been over this already- you live here, you can eat dinner at the same time as the rest of us."

Knuckles shook his head. "I need to-"

"-Be on guard, and watch the Emerald." Lucas and Kya finished with him. Kya rolled her eyes, and punched Knuckles in the arm, almost falling off the chair in her efforts. "You can be on guard just as easily when you're eating. Sit." When Knuckles didn't move, she hit him again. "NOW."

"Okay, okay…" Knuckles rubbed his arm where she hit him. "Don't have to get violent…" He grabbed a chair and pulled himself onto it. Sitting at the table, his nose was level with it. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Lucas.

Lucas rolled his eyes, and went into the kitchen again. He came out with the phone book. He picked Knuckles up (With only a few curses on Knuckles's part), put the phone book down, and placed Knuckles on top. He sat down again. "Better?"

Knuckles was now somewhat higher up. "Somewhat. Maybe next time we'll use two."

Lucas began serving out dinner- a weird sort of soup-like thing. Lucas wasn't the best cook, but whatever it was, it was edible.

Knuckles tried to pick up his spoon, but with his gloves on, he kinda…. failed.

Already eating, Kya gestured with her spoon. "Knuckles, take off your gloves. Eat." She ordered. "It's getting cold."

Knuckles looked at his gloves unhappily, but he did was he was told. His hands were small, and delicate. His fingers were long and thin, and they seemed like that would look better on a girl, but on Knuckles, they looked right. He began to eat, the spoon looking clunky in his hands.

"So, Lu." Kya said, spooning herself some more soup, "What was your idea for finding out if Knuckles is a video game character, or the basis of a video game?"

"Well," Lucas said, swallowing, "Play one of the more recent ones. If Knuckles hasn't lived through it yet, he's based off of the games. If he's lived through it, it's likely that the game is based off of him."

"…Lucas, you're brilliant!" Kya exclaimed. "Knuckles, why didn't we think of that?"

Knuckles was baffled. "I…don't know, but it's a good idea." He tried to get off the chair, but stopped when Lucas started talking.

"Hey! This family eats together, and no one leaves until dinner's finished." He pointed at Knuckles with his spoon. "My roof, my rules. Got it?"

"Well, technically, it's not your roof." Kya thought out loud. "It's Mom and Dad's roof. But, they don't live here."

"It's my roof until they get back." Lucas explained. "End of discussion. Anyway, what did you do today, Kya?"

Kya prattled on with a story of something that happened today, while Knuckles though about what Lucas said. _This family…_ he pondered. _He definitely said, 'this family'…does that mean I'm part of the family?_

_Yeah, course it does. _Knuckles looked up suddenly. Lucas had stopped badgering Kya about her day, and they were now sitting in silence. Kya was staring at Knuckles over her soup. _Lucas means what he says. You've been living with us for a month, you're part of the family now._

_I thought you said that it was rude to listen to other people's thoughts. _Knuckles challenged.

Kya took a spoonful of soup. _No, trying to break into someone's mind is rude. When you're thinking very loudly, I can't not really NOT listen to you, now can I?_

_True. But, I'm part of the family?_

_Yeah. Lucas sees you as a brother, or a dog, or something. He trusts you. He knows that you'll look out for me, and that you yourself would rather die then something happen to those you love. _Kya smiled at him. _You're easier to figure out than you think._

Knuckles ate more soup. _Well, it's nice to feel loved. _ He thought sarcastically. _Anyway, thank you. Are we done eating yet?_

_Yeah, let's go. _Kya stood up, and waited for Knuckles to climb off of the chair. He was somewhat less than successful. She rolled her eyes, and went over to help. Once Knuckles was down, they went into the living room, never saying a word.

Left by himself, Lucas said, "It's ANNOYING living with people who can read each other's minds. No one SAYS anything anymore."

In the living room, Knuckles and Kya sat down and began playing Sonic and the Secret Rings. When they go to the part that involved Knuckles, he frowned and said, "I don't remember that…"

"Course you don't. That's you as Sinbad the Sailor." Lucas was leaning against the doorframe. "Play one where he's actually himself, why don't you?"

"I don't have the latest one where's he's himself, I'll get storylines online." Kya got up and went to the computer. Once the page and loaded up, Knuckles came over and started reading. "Yeah, we did that a LONG time ago." He said. "Lot's of stuff has happened since then."

"Well, that's good then." Kya smiled. "You're not a video game character. You're a real person. Lucky you."

Knuckles smiled. "Yeah, lucky me." He was relieved, the sort of relieved where you were about to start laughing out loud, and scream, just because you were so happy.

Kya caught what he was thinking, and laughed.

Lucas, of course, was left out of the joke entirely, and was left in the dark. No one saw the need to fill him in.

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http :// wolf-howl89. / art / KKME - Part- Two - 66947689 -- Picture for chapter two

http :// wolf-howl89. / art / KKME - Part - Three - 69684466 -- Picture for chapter three.

You know what to do--Just remove spaces!

Please review!


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everyone! Thanks to all who have ever reviewed, be it once, be it -knock on wood- a million times!

Oh, and just a fun little thing here- If anyone can guess what the letters "KKME" stand for, you get a prize!

Please keep in mind that you're dealing with two fifteen-year old girls, so you either get some KKME fan-art with you in it, or a short segment written in your honour.

On with the story then, if there's nothing else. OH, and a link to the illistration for this chapter is at the bottom of the page. Take a look!

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Knuckles had been living with Kya and Lucas for about a month and a half, and he was steadily getting more and more pissed off. Sonic and Tails had only contacted them once-it wasn't even a good message, it was a slip of paper on the door that said, "You weren't home, fighting Robotnik, found two Chaos Emeralds, wish you were here, Sonic & Tails". Not exactly the most encouraging thing on the planet.

It would be better if Knuckles knew for SURE that he would be able to take the Emerald back home, but in this state of uncertainty, he was going insane.

"KYA!" He raced through the house, looking for her. "WHERE ARE YOU?" He skidded to a halt in the living room, where Kya was sitting, reading a book. "What the hell do you think you're doing!" he yelled, waving his arms around. "Someone could have stolen the Emerald!"

Kya didn't even bother with an answer. She merely looked at Knuckles for a moment or two, and returned to her book. "HEY! I will not be ignored!"

"Kya!" Lucas charged into the room, shoving Knuckles out of the way. "When the hell were you thinking about telling me that you needed to go shopping for school supplies?" He demanded.

"I was yelling at her!" Knuckles protested. "Wait your turn."

"Mine's more important." Lucas waved his hand dismissively. "Kya, if you show up at school not prepared, you could get taken away from me!"

Kya looked up from her book briefly. "Lu, don't worry about it. I bought all my stuff last year in advance. If you buy your school supplies a week after school starts, you save tons of money. Don't fret your little head, I'm good to go."

"Yeah?" Lucas crossed his arms and cocked his head mockingly. "What about your furry little problem over there?" He shot a meaningful glance towards Knuckles.

"What about me?" Knuckles asked, crossing his arms and looking very similar to Lucas. "I'm going to follow the Master Emerald everywhere it goes, no matter what!"

Kya sighed, and put her book down. Unlikely that she was going to get any more reading done today. "Knuckles, you can't follow me around at school. My teachers won't allow it."

"Well, explain to them what happened, and they'll understand!"

"It WOULD make for an interesting, 'What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essay…" Lucas said, nodding slightly. "Anyway, that's not the point. Knuckles," He began, leaning down on one knee to be almost at his level, "No one's going to believe her story, even WITH you standing right there."

Knuckles frowned. "Then they won't believe it. I'm going."

"No, you're not." Lucas frowned.

"Yes, I am."

"No, you're not."

"YES I AM."

"NO YOU'RE NOT."

"We're not doing this!" Kya yelled. "Knuckles, since you're being a huge baby, you can come to school with me. Lucas, I'll talk to my teachers. Don't worry, it'll be alright." She assured him. "Everyone will know it's not your fault."

Lucas stood up from the floor. "They'd better. Otherwise, I'll find a recipe for echidna online." He glared at Knuckles as he left the room.

The room was silent for a minute, as Kya went back to her book, and Knuckles started to watch her. "He wasn't serious, right?" Knuckles blurted out, breaking the silence. " People don't really eat echidnas here, do they?"

Kya gazed at Knuckles steadily. "Do you really want to know the answer to that question?"

Knuckles thought for a moment, and shook his head. "I think I'm happier not knowing."

"Good."

Ms. Robinson lowered her glasses and glazed at Kya over top of them. "Do you seriously expect me to believe that?"

"Yes Ma'am." Kya sighed. "I know, it sounds crazy, but it's true, all of it. I swear to God, I couldn't make this stuff up."

"Hmm…" The teacher leaned back, and looked at Knuckles. "I suppose you're the echidna in this little story?"

Knuckles clasped his hands in front of him. "Yes Ma'am." This woman was perhaps the most terrifying person he had ever seen. Tall, with steel gray hair pulled back into a no-nonsense bun, and black, sensible clothes. Knuckles was surprised that people could be taught by this person.

"Well, as long as you don't disrupt the class, I suppose you can stay. BUT-" Here she leaned forward and pointed her finger in Knuckles's face. "ONE peep out of you, and you're gone, ancient guardian or not. Understood?"

"Understood!" Knuckles squeaked, eyes wide with terror. Kya had started school that morning, and she was explaining to her teachers what had happened as the day went by. If students asked any questions, Knuckles glared at them, and they went away.

Kya went to sit at her seat in the back of the room. "Kya!" Maggie said, waving slightly. "How's it going?"

"Peachy." Kya flung her bag down and fell onto her desk with a sigh. "I have the weirdest feeling Knuckles is going to kill someone."

"I'm getting that general feeling too." Maggie peered at Knuckles. "Hiya."

Knuckles crossed his arms, but he didn't glare. Kya shrugged. "Ms. Robinson scared the crap outta him." She explained. "She told him not to talk, and I think he's going to listen."

"Yeah…" Maggie and Kya chatted idly for a while, and then a chubby, good-looking boy came up her.

"Hey Kya…." He said, dragging out the last syllable in her name. "How's it going?"

Kya smiled shyly. "Hi Mitch. It's going good, yourself?"

"Pretty much fantastic…what the hell's that thing?" He asked, pointing at Knuckles.

Knuckles glanced at Ms. Robinson, but seeing she was busy, jumped up onto the desk and grabbed the boy's shirt collar and pulled their faces close together. "I'm Knuckles the echidna, and I'll kill you if you try and do anything to the Master Emerald." He growled quietly. "Now, why don't you go and sit down, huh? We don't need you here." He pushed Mitch away.

Mitch fell over a desk in his haste to get away. Knuckles looked around the room, arms crossed and glaring at everyone who happened to be looking in their direction at the time.

Kya banged her forehead against her desk repeatedly. "Hey, uh, Knuckles?" Maggie asked. "Are you going to be doing that to everyone who comes up and talks to us?"

"I don't care about you, I only care about the Emerald." He said, surveying the classroom.

"Okay, good." Maggie patted Kya's back. "See? Don't worry. You won't be ruining everyone else's social life, just your own!"

Kya stopped banging her head against the desk, and looked like she was about to say something. Instead, she started banging her head again.

"Ms. Morris!" The teacher's voice rang across the room. "Kindly stop that!"

"Yes Ma'am…" She groaned, raising her head.

"Good…" Ms. Robinson slowly walked across the room, talking all the while. "As some of you may have noticed, Ms. Morris is being followed by an echidna." Of course, everyone turned to look at Knuckles. Kya waved feebly. "Ms. Morris has already explained to me what has happened, and I'm sure she will tell the rest of you if she feels comfortable. Now, you are not to be distracted by the echidna at any moment in class, and it is not to distract you." She stared pointedly at Knuckles, and he swallowed nervously. "Any questions?"

One boy raised his hand. "Yes, Mr. Barber." Ms. Robinson said, looking at the boy.

"What's an echidna?" He asked.

"An echidna is a mammal from Australia, and it is nothing special." Ms. Robinson stared around the classroom again, waiting for more questions. Receiving none, she began talking again. "You do not need to talk to it, you do not need to think of it. The echidna in the room is nothing, nothing at all. It will not approach you in any way, or it will suffer the consequences."

Kya frowned, and raised her hand. Knuckles., having sat down on a desk behind her, watched carefully. _Why are you asking the teacher questions about me? _ He thought towards her. Kya ignored him.

Ms. Robinson seemed to think the same way as Knuckles. "Ms. Morris, it's your echidna." She said, pausing in her steps. "What could you possibly ask me?"

"My question is," Kya said, repositioning herself in her chair, "Why aren't you referring to Knuckles as, 'he'? Why are you only referring to him as, 'it'?"

"The echidna is an animal, not a human." Ms. Robinson said stiffly. "We don't refer to animals as 'he'. Next question."

Kya raise her hand again. Without waiting for the teacher to call on her, she said loudly, "He's capable of speech and thought, I've talked to him many times. And, so he's not human. He's still worthy of respect. Also, he's not my echidna. I don't OWN him, he guards me." Kya crossed his arms. "Also, since you're talking about him so much, you might wanna introduce him to the class. It's only polite, don't you know."

"Ms. Morris, I don't like your attitude." The teacher leaned on her desk. "Please refrain from talking to me like that again."

"Well, stop talking about Knuckles like that!" Kya said loudly. "It's rude!"

"Ms. Morris, I'm afraid I'm going to have to send you to the office." Ms. Robinson strode towards Kya quickly, mouth in a small line. When she reached for Kya's arm -meaning only to lead her out of the room- Knuckles reacted.

Knuckles jumped off of the desk behind Kya and grabbed the teacher. "Don't touch the Emerald!" He yelled in her face. "No one is allowed to touch the Emerald!"

"Get this beast off of me!" Ms. Robinson's face twisted with disgust and rage. "Ms. Morris, this animal is not welcome in my classroom, and neither are you!" She wrenched her arm away from Knuckles, and pointed towards the door.

"Fine!" Kya stood up quickly and grabbed Knuckles. "C'mon, we're going." She said, pulling him off of the desk.

"Go to the office, young lady!" Ms. Robinson yelled.

"Planning on it!" Kya yelled back, pushing the door open so hard that it that it slammed against the wall. She stalked down the hall, still carrying Knuckles.

As they were making their way to the office, Knuckles said to Kya, "You can put me down, you know."

Kya stopped walking, and dropped Knuckles. "Sorry about that." She ran her fingers through her hair. "She was just treating you so badly, I got so mad, and I lost my temper, and- Oh my God, Lu's gonna kill me." She grabbed her hair and pulled. "Knuckles, you gotta guard me from Lu. He's the biggest threat to the Emerald right now." She leaned against a wall and slide down so she was on the floor.

"Calm down, calm down." Knuckles came over and awkwardly patted her head. "We'll talk to whoever's in charge here, and get this whole mess straitened out." He smiled at Kya. " 'Sides, she's not very nice anyway. Someone had to tell her off."

Kya smiled up at Knuckles. "Yeah, you're right. C'mon, let's go face the music." She pushed herself up, and stared down the hallway sadly. "Hold my hand?"

"…What?"

"Hold my hand. C'mon, I'm going to get yelled at SO MUCH, I want to hold someone's hand." Kya smiled down at Knuckles. "Please?"

Knuckles sighed, but he reached out and grabbed Kya's hand. She grinned, and started down the hall again.

As soon as they got to the office, they met the principal. He looked at Kya and Knuckles grimly. "Ms. Robinson phoned ahead." He said as explanation. He shooed them into his office. He sat down at his desk, and Kya and Knuckles sat in two chairs across from him. He folded his hands and rested his chin on them. "Explain."

"Well, she was being really insulting to Knuckles, and I just don't think that's right, since that counts as abuse, or harassment, or something, and I was, well, kinda sorta rude to her, and that was my fault, really, but she was pissing me off- er, making me angry, and she went to grab my arm, to lead me outta the room, I guess, and Knuckles thought she was gonna hurt me or something, and he, well, he jumped her, and then she told us to get down here, and here we are, haha…" Kya laughed weakly. "Guess you're going to call my brother now, aren't you?"

The principal unfolded his hands and leaned back in his seat. "Now, I'm not going to do that Kya." Laughing a little at Kya and Knuckles's expressions, he said, "Knuckles is a guest in our school, and he deserves to be treated as such. Though," He added, seeing Kya's grin, "You still acted badly, and attacking a teacher is pretty bad." He said, looking at Knuckles.

Knuckles had the decency to blush and squirm in his seat. "She was trying to steal the Emerald…" He mumbled.

"Knuckles, there is nothing wrong with you trying to protect Kya from harm, but Ms. Robinson wasn't trying to harm Kya."

Knuckles stared at the principal blankly. "I never said she was."

"But you attacked her when she tried to touch Kya." The principal said, clearly baffled.

"Yeah…She was trying to steal the Emerald…" Knuckles explained. "Kya stole the Emerald first, so she was trying to steal it from Kya."

The principal stared at Knuckles for a moment, then turned to Kya. "Anyway, your punishment is that you have to wash dishes today at lunch in the Foods room." He told her. "And," He gestured for Kya to lean in closer. Curious, she did so. "Get that boy some help." The principal said quietly. "He thinks you're an Emerald."

"I am an Emerald." She told him, just as quietly. "If you want me to explain, I will, but I doubt you really want to know." She leaned back into her chair.

The principal sat as if dazed, and then shook his head. "Home room is over now, go to your next class." He ordered. Kya and Knuckles scurried off, leaving the principal to wonder, how exactly, Kya WAS an emerald.

Kya and Knuckles ran down the hall, trying to get to Kya's locker. "Lucas never finds out about this, agreed?" Kya asked, thinking of endless yelling and loud fights.

"Agreed." Knuckles said, thinking of echidna stew.

----

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	5. Chapter 5

"Knuckles, I have a question." Kya asked when they were at her house. She had just finished her homework, and had been staring dreamily out the window for the past fifteen minutes."

"What?" Knuckles asked from atop the fridge. "This isn't another one of those questions that'll bother me for weeks, is it?"

Kya smiled. "No, no, nothing like that. How do you take your shoes off?"

Knuckles examined his feet. "…I take them off."

"But they have metal laces!" Kya protested, rising from her seat. She walked over to the fridge, and looked up at Knuckles. "They aren't even laces…" She considered, staring at his feet. "Are they like loafers, or what?"

"Kya, is this honestly the most important thing on your mind right now?" Knuckles asked, exasperated. Kya always asked him the weirdest questions, and they always bothered him for a long time. He still occasionally thought about what version he was…He shuddered from the memory. He realized that Kya had been talking while he was thinking.

"…And, another thing, why is your world clothing optional?"

"Come again? Clothing optional?"

"Yeah…" Kya leaned back and rubbed her chin, examining Knuckles. "Only girls wear clothes in your world, guys just wear running shoes and gloves…Odd." She trailed off.

"I'm not sure I want to know what you're thinking right now." Knuckles cringed away from her, slightly frightened.

"I'm just wondering who thought it was normal for, say, a BAT to wear clothes, while an echidna wearing clothes is wrong…" Kya bit her lip thoughtfully. "It's a very good question- I'm not going to let this one slide!" She warned, seeing Knuckles prepare to slip off the fridge.

"I knew you weren't." He said, jumping off fully. "Want to go ask Lucas? He always knows these things."

"Yeah, sounds like a plan." They trooped off to find Lucas, and found him reading in the living room, mug of tea beside him. "Why doesn't Knuckles wear pants?" Kya demanded as soon as they entered.

Lucas looked at Knuckles over top of his reading glasses, and merely said, "They don't make them in his size."

"Ah, see? None my size!" Knuckles exclaimed happily. "See? I'm normal!"

"Next question. How does he take off his shoes?" Kya demanded yet again, placing her hands on her hips.

Again, Lucas calmly looked at Knuckles. "He doesn't. Haven't you noticed, he wears his shoes at all times."

Kya and Knuckles both looked at his feet. "I guess I don't." Knuckles decided. He shrugged. "The situation's never come up."

"Well, tonight, you're not sleeping in my bed with those things on!" Kya announced. "If I knew you were wearing them when we slept together, I never would have let you!"

Lucas had been taking a sip of his tea, which he spat out as Kya was talking. "WHAT?" He roared, grabbing Knuckles with one hand and Kya with the other. "WHAT THE HELL?"

Kya rolled her eyes. "Honestly, I was just kidding. Do you really think I'm so desperate, I'd resort to bestiality?" She pulled out of her brother's grasp, and skipped away. "You're icky Lu."

Lucas let Knuckles drop, a fairly good distance from him. "We'll never speak of this again, agreed?" He asked.

Knuckles nodded. "Right." He raced off to find Kya, looking for her with his mind.

Lucas sat down and looked at his book, which was now soaked with tea. He sighed, and went into the kitchen to get a new cup.

Knuckles found Kya outside, looking at the sky. "What are we looking at?" He asked, joining her.

Kya pointed up. "I thought I heard something, so I came outside. Isn't that…"

"The Egg Carrier!" Knuckles finished her sentence. It was still a long way off, but it was definitely recognizable. "Kya, get inside! I'll handle things here."

For once not arguing, Kya nodded and ran inside. Knuckles could see her at the window, watching him.

Two small tan and blue dots appeared in the sky, and Knuckles was fairly sure that they were Sonic and Tails. He saw the tan dot bump into the blue dot, and they both slowed down. _Good, he's slowing the fall._ He thought. _Good boy, Tails!_

_Tails?_ He could hear Kya's shocked thought. _What happened? Why do you see Tails? Is Sonic with him? _

_Yeah, they fell off of the Egg Carrier. _Knuckles shaded his eyes from the sun. The dots had become recognizable. _They look like they're fine, but still- wait, the Egg Carrier's leaving, you can come outside now._

Kya joined him outside, and they both watched Sonic and Tails' descent. They soon touched down, and Tails collapsed from exhaustion. "Sonic, lose some weight!" He complained between pants. "You're too heavy to do that any more!"

"Yeah, yeah." Sonic raced over to Kya and Knuckles. "How're you guys? Eggman try and do anything?" He asked.

Knuckles grabbed Sonic's shoulders. "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU?" He yelled, shaking Sonic. "ONE CONTACT IN THREE MONTHS? WHAT THE HELL?"

Sonic pulled himself away. "Chill out Knux." He said, wiping off his shoulders. "We've been busy. You know, saving the world and whatnot. Got anything to drink? Eggman got some new toys, and they were kinda hard to beat." Without waiting for an answer, Sonic walked inside the house. Judging from Lucas' shout of surprise, Sonic found the kitchen.

Knuckles looked up at the sky. The Egg Carrier was almost completely gone. "What were you two doing up there?" He wondered aloud, looking at Tails. "Did Robotnik get another Chaos Emerald?"

"No, no, nothing like that." Tails waved his hand. "We just found out some interesting information about a Chaos Emerald, and we wanted to know if he knew. He didn't, so it's alright."

"Well, what's the info?" Kya asked, beginning to walk inside. "Anything the Master Emerald should know about?"

Following her, Tails said, "Well, in this situation, yes. It turns out, you weren't the only person fused with an Emerald."

"I'm not unique?" Kya whimpered, while Knuckles' jaw dropped.

"A Chaos Emerald fused with someone?" He asked. "How did that happen without us noticing?"

"It wasn't a complete fusion." Tails explained, going inside while Kya held the door open. "The boy thinks that it's supposed to be there. Kya, has there been anyone with piercings around? One that's a red jewel?"

"Yeah, Mitch. He got a new earring, and he's been- Wait, that's a Chaos Emerald?" Kya covered her hand with her mouth.

Tails nodded. "If he doesn't ever seem to take it off. We need to find this boy right now, and get the Emerald off of him. He's extremely dangerous in this state."

Kya nodded. "Of course." She opened the door into the kitchen, and said, "Sonic. We're going to find the Chaos Emerald."

"Um, no, I don't think Sonic's up to that." Lucas stood over Sonic, who was lying on the floor snoring. He raised an eyebrow. "I don't think he's up to anything right now."

"This is the first time I've ever seen Sonic sleep without being drugged or sick, or something." Knuckles said with amazement. His gave turned into a wicked grin. "Let's draw on him."

"No, we gotta find the Emerald! Tails, are you as wiped as Sonic?" Kya asked.

"No, I'm fine. Sonic did most of the fighting. Let's go." They started out the door, leaving Lucas staring at the sleeping hedgehog.

"Drawing on him is very tempting." He said finally. He began to search for a marker.

Meanwhile, Kya, Knuckles, and Tails were on a search for Mitch. Knuckles asked, "Does he play the video game series?"

"I have no idea." Kya shook her head. "When we're together, we do…Other things." At this point, she was blushing more than Knuckles had ever seen her do.

"It doesn't matter what you do, we have to find this boy!" Said Tails, leaving Kya and Knuckles slightly behind. Silently, Knuckles asked, _What sort of things do you two do together?_

Kya blushed again, and shook her head. Knuckles suddenly got it, and blushed himself. They all walked silently, Kya going to where she knew Mitch would hang out.

"There he is!" Kya exclaimed suddenly, pointing. Knuckles looked, and he saw a boy he often saw in Kya's school buying a drink in a store. They waited outside for him.

When he saw Kya, Mitch smiled. "Hey." When he saw Knuckles, he frowned. "You." When he saw Tails, his frown changed to a look of utter confusion. "A fox."

"This him?" Tails asked. When Kya nodded, Tails snapped his fingers. "We need your earring." He ordered. "Now."

"My earring?" Mitch touched his ear, where a single ruby drop hung. "What'll you give me?"

"Give us the Emerald now, punk." Knuckles growled. He had never liked this kid. "Or, we'll hurt you."

"Knuckles, stop it." Kya hit Knuckles lightly on the side of the head. She stepped forward. "Mitch, please. It might be the only way to get them home."

Mitch thought about it. "On one condition." He decided, grinning.

"What?" Kya put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, foot tapping.

"You have to go out with me again." Mitch told her, grinning twice as large as before.

Kya blushed, and Knuckles seethed. _How dare he do that to her! Its- it's- it's-_

"Alright." Kya decided. "Hand it over."

Knuckles watched, mouth hanging open as Mitch tried to undo the earring. "It's stuck." He said, embarrassed. "Kya, can you help me?"

Kya rolled her eyes, but went to help. Over her shoulder, Mitch grinned seedily at Knuckles. Knuckles growled and crossed his arms, frowning all the while.

"There, I got it." Kya announced, pulling away. She gave the earring to Tails. "Is it because I'm the Master Emerald?" She asked.

Tails nodded. "It would explain a lot. We have to get back to your house now." He turned, and began walking back. Knuckles followed him, noticing how Kya slowed to walk with Mitch, holding his hand. Knuckles' frown got deeper, but he didn't let down the barriers in his mind. Kya would…Not like his thoughts, to say the least.

Tails noticed his expression. "Oh, grow up, you big baby." He scolded. "She's free to do as she likes, you can't be her father."

"I'm not trying to be!" Knuckles snapped, very carefully ignoring the fact that Mitch was making Kya laugh.

"Then what are you trying to be?" Tails asked, smirking. "Her-" His voice dropped. "Boyfriend?" He whispered.

"NO." Knuckles barked. "I'm her Guardian, that's it!" He scowled the rest of the way to Kya's house, where they found Michelle sitting on the door stoop.

"Lucas said you'd be back any minute, I just waited out here." She said as an explanation. Her eyes widened at the sight of Kya and Mitch holding hands, but she didn't say anything. She followed them inside, where Sonic was standing, pissed off.

"Thanks for waking me guys." He said sarcastically. "Did you at least get the Emerald?"

"Yep!" Tails said proudly, holding out the Emerald. "Kya was able to get it off."

Sonic took the Emerald. "Good, good…" He noticed Knuckles glaring at Mitch. "Hey, what's wrong? Who's this guy?"  
"No one!" Knuckles growled, and went on top of the fridge, where he sat half-hidden by a radio.

"O…Kay…" Sonic said, looking at Mitch, to Knuckles, then back at Mitch. "Anyway, Tails and I gotta go. We'll be back when we got news." He raced out the door, Tails following.

"Don't you wanna know what they're doing?" Kya asked Mitch.

He poked her nose playfully. "Baby, I only got one thing on my mind, and it ain't them. C'mon, let's go up to your room." He grabbed her hand and almost dragged her upstairs.

Giggling, Kya obeyed. "Oh, Knuckles, I'll be safe upstairs. You can hang out with Michelle for a while!" She called downstairs. They could hear her door slam, and then it was silent.

"I hate him too." Michelle said, breaking the silence between her and Knuckles.

Knuckles jumped down from behind the radio. "He's trying to steal the Emerald, of course I hate him." He said hotly. "Why do you hate him?"

"Because he's a sleaze ball." Michelle stated, pulling a chair from the kitchen table and sitting down. "He's just using Kya because she has a good body, he doesn't care about her at all. They've broken up and gotten back together more times than I can count."

"Well, why doesn't Kya break it off with him for good?" Knuckles asked.

"Because she thinks she's in love with him." Michelle sighed, slouching. "I swear, she's the stupidest person I've ever met He treats her so badly, it pisses me off so much!"

"And, I don't know how he got so close to her so quickly." Knuckles added. "I bet, he's trying to steal the Emerald from her, and he hypnotized her somehow!"

Michelle laughed. "You know, I bet only you could come up there with that excuse, and she wouldn't hate you." She suddenly sat bolt upright. "Go. Tell her that, right now. He'll get so pissed off that he'll leave, and she'll understand your concern, so she won't be so pissed off!"

Knuckles nodded and ran upstairs, where he burst into Kya's room. "KYA!" He yelled.

Mitch and Kya were lying on her bed, making out. "Knuckles! What the hell are you doing?" Kya spluttered out, trying to fix her top. Behind her, Mitch swore quietly.

"He was trying to steal the Master Emerald!" Knuckles yelled. "He did something to you! That's why you got so close to him so fast!"

"What?" Kya asked. "Knuckles, go away!" She turned back to Mitch. "Baby, it's alright, he won't bother us again."

"Like hell he won't!" Mitch said angrily. "I've seen the way you act together at school! It's like he's in love with you or something! No, I'm not getting into this if it means having no privacy!" He stormed out of the room, pushing Knuckles out of the way. A muffled door slam told them that he was gone.

"Get out." Kya said quietly. Knuckles stayed where he was, and opened his mouth to say something. "Get OUT!" She shrieked, and ran over to the door. She pushed him out and slammed the door shut. He could hear her sobbing behind it.

"Give her two hours." Michelle said from behind him. Knuckles whirled around. Michelle had come upstairs while he was staring at the door. "I'll talk to her; convince her you did the right thing." She continued. "Tell Lucas to prepare comfort food for dinner." She said as she slipped inside.

Knuckles could hear Michelle talking to Kya, trying to clam her down. Eventually, the loud noises stopped, and only to occasional sniffle was heard. Knuckles sat down across the hall, ready to wait this out. He thought about why he felt so bad. He decided it was because, deep down inside of him, he liked Kya, and he didn't want to make her cry.

At six, Michelle came out of the room. She beckoned with her finger for Knuckles to come downstairs with her, and he obeyed.

"Whoo boy, she's pissed." Michelle told him as she prepared some food, the majority of which seemed to be chocolate. "But, don't worry, she'll be alright. She's able to talk about Mitch without crying and of you without cursing your very existence." She licked a finger. "All things considered, it's going very well." She went back upstairs with a huge plate of food.

Three hours later, Michelle came out of the room laughing. Knuckles had gone back to leaning against the wall, and he stood up when he saw her. "Is she alright again?" He asked anxiously.

"Yeah, she's been fine for the past three hours." Michelle waved her hand. "We watched _Titanic_. Good break-up movie. Anyway, I'm going home. She wants to talk to you, by the way." She added as she went downstairs.

Knuckles entered the room silently. Kya was lying on the bed, staring at the ceiling. "Don't apologize." She said as Knuckles opened his mouth to apologize. "It was good of you to get him to break up with me. I know if I had gone out with him again, I would just end up hurt again." She turned to smile at Knuckles, eyes still slightly red. "It still hurts right now, you know?"

Knuckles nodded, unwilling to say anything. Kya patted the spot beside her on the bed. "C'mere. Sit with me a bit." Knuckles came over and sat.

Kya sighed, and turned over to face him. "I'm not mad anymore. Get comfy." She smiled wryly. "I won't bite."

Knuckles awkwardly lay himself on the bed. Kya sighed again, and lung an arm across of him. "I'm not hoping you'll make out with me or something." She said fuzzily. "I just really want something to hug right now."

Knuckles sighed, and relaxed his body. "Just until you get over Mitch though, alright?" He warned. "I don't want this to become a habit, or anything."

"I know." Kya snuggled into him. "I don't either…Us sleeping in the same bed, I mean. As bad habits go, that one's positively the worst."

As the nights went by where Kya just really needed to hug something as she fell asleep (there were tow, counting this one) and the nights went by where Kya thought she really needed something to hug, when she only really wanted someone to hug (there was tow weeks worth), a habit is precisely what it became.


	6. Chapter 6

So, hello one and all! I am intensly sorry for the time between updates-- my writer's block is so huge I can't find my way to my computer. Once again, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, or added this story to theirs favs...Actually, thanks for noticing it, really. As usual, links to the artwork are at the bottom-- I just realized that for the last chapter, I forgot to add the link. Oh well, you get the link this time.

Enjoy!

"Rawr."

"Grrr…"

Lucas watched this fascinating exchange between Kya and Knuckles with awe. "You guys bored, or stoned, or something?" He asked. "I've never seen either of you look like this before."

Kya sighed, and played with her cereal. "Robotnik got another Chaos Emerald." Knuckles didn't even look up from the bowl of fruit he was currently glaring at. "It's only slightly…mind-numbingly depressing."

"I see." Lucas continued eating his breakfast. After a few minutes of silence, he asked, "Knuckles, do you want that fruit?"

"Huh? No." Knuckles looked up, startled. "I'm fine, thanks."

"Alright then." More silence. Again, Lucas broke it by talking. "Okay, seriously, you're the unhappiest thing I've ever seen that wasn't wearing pants."

"Why does everyone fixate on that?" Knuckles grumbled to himself, as Kya asked Lucas, "Why aren't you worried about my current state of happiness?"

"You're wearing pants. You have every reason to be unhappy." Lucas explained. "Knuckles, on the other hand, isn't wearing pants. He should be the happiest person at the table."

"…Lucas, you aren't wearing pants." Kya told him. "You're only wearing boxers."

"I'm wearing an imitation of pants- I'm semi-happy." Lucas enunciated his point by pointing at his sister with his fork, which had some breakfast on it still.

"Don't point your pickle at me." Kya stared at him.

Lucas frowned. "Technically, it's a gherkin."

"Gherkins ARE pickles, they're just really little." Knuckles said, not lifting his head from the table. It was hard to understand him when he spoke, but everyone managed well enough.

"KYA!" Michelle burst into the kitchen, waving around a flyer. "What are you doing tonight?"

"Well, seeing how my day has been going so far, arguing about pickles. Why?" Kya stretched her arms above her head.

"There's a huge dance down at the school tonight! It's been kept real hush-hush, so only the coolest people are gonna be there!" Michelle continued waving around the paper in a frenzy. "We gotta go!"

Kya gave Michelle an odd look, which disappeared in a moment. "Jeez, I would expect this sort of behavior from Melly, but not you. Sure, we'll go." She got up from the table, and gave Knuckles a despairing look. "I suppose you'll want to come along?"

"Depends. Will you be there?"

"Well, since I'm planning on going, yes, I will be there."

"Yeah, I'm coming along."

"Suuuuper." Kya rolled her eyes. "I presume that since I'm a chick, I'm going to have to dress all special for this shin-ding?"

"Yeah, of course!" Michelle was aghast. "You HAVE to look sexy! C'mon, I don't have any nice clothes, so we gotta go shopping! Let's go!" She grabbed Kya and pulled her out of the dining room. Knuckles and Lucas could hear Kya shouting that while she really appreciated the chance to go shopping, she would rather wear be wearing other clothes than bright pink pajama pants with flies on them and a tank top that said, "GO MIDDLETON FROGS."

Or something along those lines.

Lucas rolled his eyes, and put out his hand to stop Knuckles. "Hold on a sec. They're going to be going around all day, trying on clothes, and generally being girls, which Kya will complain about every step of the way. Do you really want to get into that?"

Knuckles thought for a moment, and visibly drooped. "No. But, it's my duty to guard the Master Emerald, no matter what tortures it may require." He got off of his booster seat (2.50 at a garage sale) and started out the door.

Lucas called out after him, "You're a braver man than I!" and continued eating his gherkins. He really needed to go grocery shopping.

"Can we go?" Kya whined. "Please?"

"Please?" Knuckles echoed. They had gone to every store in town, and then back again to each (It was a small town), and Kya and Knuckles were both exhausted. Michelle, on the other hand, was having the time of her life, trying on clothes, and choosing clothes for Kya to try on.

"I'll have your babies if you let us leave!" Kya yelled from the little chair outside the change room, which Michelle was in. "I'll start a cult worshiping you!"

"Not yet!" Michelle's cheery voice yelled from over top a door. "Here, try this one on, it's too big for me!" A pink sparkly dress flew over the top of the door and landed at Kya's feet.

Kya looked at it and about started to cry. Knuckles looked at it, and tried to imagine Kya wearing it. He wasn't able to for more than two seconds, because it was too funny.

"What? What are we laughing at?" Kya frowned at the dress again. "It's the thought of the dress, isn't it?"

Knuckles tried to stop laughing, honestly, he did, but he couldn't. He had expanded on the thought of Kya just wearing the dress, and she was now wearing heels and make-up, with her hair done up in a fancy look. She looked good. Really good, but so unlike Kya…A fresh burst of laughter left Knuckles.

"Oh, you're going to pay for those thoughts." Kya narrowed her eyes at him. Yelling to Michelle, she made her voice go high and sickly sweet. "Michelle? If my guardian is going to be there, he needs to look nice too!"

Knuckles gasped, laughter gone, while Michelle's voice floated over the door. "Kya, that's brilliant! Of COURSE he needs to look nice!"

Kya pictured Knuckles in a tuxedo with tails, complete with top hat. She, being a normal person with a healthy sense of humour, immediately burst out laughing. Knuckles scowled at her, then changed his mind and thought of her in the fluffy dress again. There. Problem solved.

Michelle came out of the dressing room wearing a short green dress that accented her hair and eyes quite nicely, to see Knuckles and Kya rolling on the floor laughing. "Why, Knuckles!" She gasped. "Why are YOU acting this way?"

Knuckles pointed towards the dress, which started another wave of laughter. Kya added the image of herself in the dress to her mind, and more laughter from her.

"Miss?" A store clerk was hovering by Michelle's elbow. "If they don't stop that, we're going to have to ask you to leave."

Michelle sighed and looked at the pair. "They're not going to be stopping any time soon. Don't worry, I'll get them out of here." She began kicking Kya, which pushed her up quickly. Kya noticed that the kicks hurt more than usual. _Is Michelle really that pissed off?_ Kya thought.

Getting off of the floor, Knuckles heard her think. _Nah, don't worry about her_. He assured her. _We're just being annoying._

Kya shrugged, and waited by the till for Michelle to pay. After that, they went outside. "Do I have to dress up, or can I just dress more sexily than usual?" She asked.

Michelle put her finger to her chin in an exaggerated thinking gesture. "I guess that would be alright. Knuckles, you can just go as you are."

"Whee." Kya rolled her eyes. "I'm so like, looking forward to this."

"Well, don't you two look all jazzed up." Lucas stood at the bottom of the stairs and looked up with a small smile.

Kya smiled sarcastically and gave him the middle finger. "Shove it, Lu." Knuckles silently agreed with the statement.

With Michelle phoning their house every couple of minutes to ask, "Are you ready yet?" Kya and Knuckles eventually decided to get ready for the dance. With Knuckles, it was surprisingly easy- he shined the metal plates on his shoes. Kya, on the other hand…

Kya never wore make-up usually, so tonight was a special occasion. It was just mascara, but Knuckles had never heard her complain so much. As for clothes, a simple black tank top and jeans did her nicely. Still she carried herself differently, Knuckles couldn't help but noticing. Better posture, maybe. As they walked to the school, he asked her about it.

"Oh, you noticed?" Kya laughed and blushed slightly. "This shirt makes me feel like a girl." She confessed. "I can't help but walking like one. You know, swinging hips and the like. It's stupid." She walked with exaggerated movements for a bit, and then laughed and ran up ahead.

When they got to the school, there was no one outside the gym doors. "That's strange." Kya told Knuckles. "Normally, we have kids hanging out outside for a bit first."

When they went inside, only Michelle was there. She was wearing a bright green dress that reached almost to the floor. "Over-dressed much?" Kya asked, eyeing the dress.

Michelle gave a fake sounding laugh. "Of course not, you silly girl!" She said loudly, swinging her arms around wildly. "It's a party! We have to look good!" She stared down at Knuckles with a huge smile that showed too many teeth. "You don't look very fancy!" She said cheerfully.

Knuckles frowned. "I cleaned my shoes. Isn't that good enough?"

Ignoring his question, Michelle told Kya, "We should go in the gym now!" Grabbing her arm, Michelle dragged Kya into the gym, Knuckles hurrying along behind.

As soon as they got into the gym, Knuckles noticed that there were no lights on, and no music playing. Kya noticed the same thing. "Hey, where is everybody?" She asked, trying to get away from Michelle so she could look around. Michelle wouldn't let go of her grip though.

"Hey, Michelle, lemmie go." Kya shook her arm a little bit. In answer, Michelle let the gym door swing shut, getting rid of all the light whatsoever.

"Kya!" Knuckles waved his arms, trying to find her. "Kya, where are you?"

"OW! Michelle, let me go! Seriously, this hurts!" Kya's voice floated out of the darkness.

It was all a mess in the darkness for a moment, and Kya and Knuckles tried to find each other.

"Kya?"

"Knuckles?"

"Kya?"

"BWAHAHA!"

"Huh?"

The lights switched on, and Knuckles had to hide his eyes from the glare. Once his eyes adjusted, he saw that Michelle was still holding onto Kya's arm, and Kya was staring up at the wall in slightly confused horror. He looked over, and gasped. "Dr. Robotnik!"

The evil doctor laughed again. "You stupid fools! It was all a trap! Knuckles, I expected this of you, but not the Master Emerald!"

"You thought a rock would be smarter than Knuckles?" Kya had to ask. Michelle gripped her arm tighter, and Kya yelped. "Okay, that's it!" She said through gritted teeth. She pulled back her right arm, and hit Michelle as hard as she could on the chest. She had aimed for the chest because she didn't want to hurt her friend too badly, but when her chest fell off and clattered on the floor, Kya had to wonder if hitting her friend's head might have been better.

Knuckles realized what was happening before Kya did. "Kya, it's a robot!" He yelled.

Looking at what used to be her friend's breasts, Kya had to agree. There was a complex wiring system all tangled together, and Kya began to realize just how much trouble she was in.

Knuckles raced towards her, but Robotnik flew in with his personal carrier and got in his way. "Hahaha!" He laughed. "I'm going to take the Master Emerald, and there's nothing you can do about it!"

"Yeah?" Kya asked. While Robotnik had been laughing at Knuckles, Kya had been thinking. "Let's see what this rock has up her sleeve!" Kya plunged her hand deep inside the circuits of the Michelle-bot, wrapped her fingers around numerous wires, and pulled out.

"No!" Robotnik crying, pulling on his beard. "Stop, you'll ruin everything!"

Sparks flying, the Michelle-bot began talking excitedly. "Hottest dance EVER, only cool people go, pretty girls must look pretty, must look pretty, must look pretty, must look pretty!" Letting out one final beep, the Michelle-bot fell to its knees, still holding onto Kya.

"Grrr…..I still have your friend, Emerald!" Robotnik flew around in an angry circle. "To save her, you have to find me!" He shook his fist at Knuckles. "I'll get your Master Emerald, and then I'll take over this world as well! Just you wait and see!"

He then proceeded to fly out the back doors in the gym, reserved for fire alarms.

"Kya!" Knuckles ran over to her when he saw that the Michelle bot was still holding onto her arm. "Are you okay?"

"Arm…Hurts." Kya squeezed out from clenched teeth. Knuckles saw that when Kya had broken the robot, its grip had tightened, and had started squeezing her arm even tighter. Her arm was turning slightly grey.

Knuckles quickly tore the arm off the Michelle-bot and pried the fingers loose from Kya's arm. Kya rubbed her arm, and muttered her thanks. Then she remembered. "We have to go save Michelle!" She stood up quickly, and pain tingled up her arm. Ignoring it, she ran out the back doors, Knuckles following.

Bursting out of the doors, Kya looked around wildly. "Where is he?" She cried, voice breaking slightly.

"Over there!" Knuckles pointed towards the football field. They raced towards it, and when they got there, found a rather large robot with a cage in its chest. In the cage sat Michelle in her pajamas.

"About friggen' time!" Michelle screamed down at them.

"Sorry!"

Knuckles raced to start fighting the robot, yelling for Kya to be careful. After looking around, Kya guessed that Robotnik had run off, thinking that his robot would take care of them and take her back him, probably. Watching on the sidelines and being silent was not her forte, so she started thinking of ways to help Knuckles. Spying the giant hose used for the football field, she got an idea.

"Knuckles, DUCK!" Knuckles heard Kya yell. Halfway through a punch, he turned his head slightly and saw Kya holding onto a hose.

"What are you doing?" He yelled back, dodging a punch from the robot. As the robot reeled from the missed swing, Michelle flew past him.

"Don't ask, just DUCK!" She screamed as she flew by. Knuckles listened, and ducked.

"No no WAIT!" Kya yelled, dropping the hose in her excitement. "Get Michelle out first!"

Rolling his eyes, Knuckles jumped up to the cage. As the robot was trying to claw open its own chest, Knuckles forced the bars apart and gently picked up Michelle, who, aside from being slightly battered from being knocked around the cage, was mostly fine.

Carrying Michelle away to safety, the robot followed slowly. "Now would be a good time for the plan!" Knuckles yelled.

"Got it!" Kya aimed the hose carefully, then turned the handle to full blast.

A stream of water shot out of the hose, hitting what would be the robot's head. The water gushed over it, going into the small holes that Knuckles had inflicted.

Short-circuiting, the robot fell to its knees, sparks flying everywhere. Once Knuckles had decided it was safe to leave it for the police, they all left.

"What happened to you?" Kya asked Michelle.

"What happened to me? Oh, Robotnik just broke into my HOUSE, and KIDNAPPED me. No big deal, really. It only took you guys ALL DAY to rescue me!"

Michelle was only a little bit mad.

Leaving Michelle to stalk home, muttering angrily, Kya and Knuckles started towards their own house. "Are you going to tell Lucas?" Knuckles asked, wincing slightly.

Kya thought for a moment. "Not in a million years." She decided. "Things like giant robots attacking me might result in mum and dad coming home, and we don't want that."

"Your parents are still alive?" Knuckles asked, surprised. After living in Kya and Lucas' house for a few months and hearing nothing from them, he had assumed the worst.

"Yeah, they're in….Europe? I think, maybe. Jeez, I should ask Lu."

After getting home and telling Lucas that the dance sucked, Kya had a shower while Knuckles waited in her room.

"I dunno about you, but fighting giant robots tends to make me tired." Kya said, coming into her room in her pajamas, rubbing her wet hair with a towel.

Knuckles, who was dozing on the bed, shook himself awake. "I'm not tired in the slightest." He said with a straight face.

Kya made a face at him, threw the towel in a corner by the door, and got into bed beside him. "So glad Lucas decided on the double bed." Kya murmured happily.

"Yeah, same here." Knuckles closed his eyes and was almost asleep when Kya started talking again.

"Shame that this wasn't a real dance." She murmured into her blankets.

"Yeah? And why would that be?" Knuckles asked, turning on his side so he could look at her.

"I love dances." Thinking that that was the end, Knuckles turned back over so he was facing away from her. He almost didn't hear her finish speaking. "And, I would have liked to dance with you."

"What?" He asked, sitting straight up in bed. Kya, however, had fallen asleep in a space of about three seconds.

Knuckles looked at her sleeping form for a while, and then lay back down. The last thoughts he had before falling asleep were of Kya, picturing her dancing with him, only, he tweaked it slightly, so he was the same species, and slightly taller than she was, so she could hold onto his hands during the fast songs, and lean her head on his shoulder during the slow ones.

He fell asleep with a smile on his face, the twin of the girl who was lying beside him, who was dreaming the same thing he was.

Part five-- http : / wolf-howl89. / art / KKME-Part-Five- 76702411

Part six-- http : / wolf-howl89. / art / KKME-Part-Six- 81479956


	7. Chapter 7

So, who's the worst person on the planet, updating-wise? That's right--ME! Sorry, sorry, it's been really hectic around here recently.

Again, thank you so so so much to all my reviewers! Seeing that people like this stroy helps motivate me to update, and possibly post other fanfiction.

As per usual, link to the illistration is at the bottom.

EDIT-- Ahah, well, hm. This is awkward. I thought I had posted this a while ago. I didn't. I deserve smacking for not checking.

--

"Is he in here?"

"I can't see, boost me higher!"

"You guys are aware that Tails can fly, right?"

Tails flinched, and Sonic jumped, almost resulting in him falling off of Tails' back, where he had been balancing so he could see into the Morris family's window. Knuckles, who had been watching them out of another window for about ten minutes, leaned on the door frame and smirked. "What's up?"

Sonic slid smoothly off Tails' back, landing gracefully. "Knux!" He greeted his friend with false glee. "Sup, dude?"

Knuckles stared at Sonic for a moment. "Okie-dokey then. Tails?" He asked, looking behind the blue hedgehog.

Rubbing the small of his back, Tails said, "We got another Chaos Emerald!"

Knuckles grinned. "That's great! How many is that now? Three?"

"Toe to toe with Eggman!" Sonic said happily, punching his friend lightly on the shoulder. "Now, what we came to talk to you about…"

"Oh no." Knuckles shook Sonic's hand off his shoulder. "I'm not falling for that one. Kya isn't going any where, I don't CARE if the Master Emerald would help you in your mission."

"Who said anything about Kya?" Sonic asked innocently.

Before Knuckles could fully comprehend what was going on, Tails interrupted. "I've invented something, and I think it could really help you out. Robotnik has been coming around here lately, right?"

"Yeah, but I keep scaring him off. Why?" Ever since the "Dance of Doom", as Kya had so delightfully dubbed it, Robotnik had been snooping around their town, trying to find where Kya and Knuckles lived. Knuckles had been able to punch out his "Little Odd Egg-Shaped Robot Flying Thing." (Kya likes naming things, can you tell?) Every time so far, but he was beginning to get slightly worried, because Robotnik might build another "Michelle-Stealing Evil Robot of Doom!" (Okay, it's officially not funny anymore.)

"Well, I've been investigating the Chaos Emeralds-" Tails began lecturing, but a look from both Sonic and Knuckles ended the lecture. Tails' tails drooped slightly. "Well, anyway, I've been looking into the Chaos Emeralds, and I think with a machine I've just built, I could use the power of Chaos to manipulate genes."

"Do what to pants?" Knuckles asked, confused.

"Genes. With a 'G'." When Knuckles' confused look didn't disappear, Tails pinched the bridge of his nose. "I might be able to change your physical appearance."

"…Why?" Knuckles asked.

"I asked the same thing, but he said he didn't want to explain it twice." Sonic added, snapping back to attention from his day-dreaming.

Tails had slapped his palm to his face before Sonic started talking. Not removing the hand from his face, he continued. "So I could transform you into a human, and you'd blend IN better, and Robotnik wouldn't be able to find you!"

"Ohhh…." Knuckles and Sonic said in unison. "Well, let's go!" Sonic said cheerfully, grabbing Knuckles' arm and starting off.

"Wait!" Knuckles yelled, pulling his arm back. "I can't leave! What about Kya?"

"She'll be fine for one day!" Sonic assured him. "C'mon!"

"I'm leaving a note at least." Knuckles ducked back into the house, scrawled a note on a notepad that was lying on the table. "Kay, let's go."

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Finally!" He started running, with Tails and Knuckles following behind. "Keep up this time!"

"Oh, like I never keep up?"

"Guys…"

Kya rolled over in bed, and over, and over, and fell out. "Oof." She said as she sat up and groped for her glasses. "Weird. Knuckles is usually there to stop that from happening."

Once she had found her glasses, Kya stumbled downstairs into the bathroom, where she commenced in her daily cleaning ritual- a shower. As she came out of the bathroom still towelling her hair dry, she looked around the kitchen for Knuckles, and maybe something to eat.

Left over Chinese food was good for breakfast, but still no echidna. "Lucas?" She asked as she went into the living room after eating, where Lucas was pounding away at his laptop, working out tomorrow's "Lucas' Great Cheap Eats." for the morning paper. "Do you know where Knuckles is?"

"Nuh-uh." He said, eyes still on the computer. "Did I do chicken wings?"

"You did chicken wings." Kya told him, as she wandered throughout the house, looking for Knuckles. Giving up for the moment, she went up to her room to get dressed. Coming back downstairs to the kitchen table, she sat down in a huff. "Where the HELL is he?" She asked the kitchen.

It was then she noticed the notepad on the table. Written on it in a messy scrawl she recognized as Knuckles', it read, "I'll be back."

"Useful." She snorted, tossing the pad back down. "Doesn't tell me where he IS though."

"Kya, are you still here? Get to school!" Lucas yelled from the other room, finally noticing what time it was.

"Yeah yeah, working on it." Kya yelled back, grabbing her backpack and slamming the door on her way out. As she passed the open window in the living room, Lucas heard her say again, "Where the HELL is he?"

--

Michelle looked at Kya over the lunchroom table. "He'll be back." She told her again.

"Yeah, but where the hell IS he?" Kya drummed her fingers on the table top. "What time is it now?" She snapped, looking at Maggie.

"12:34. Exactly one minute after you last asked." Maggie rolled her eyes. "Next time, we'll get this guy a pager or something. This is getting old."

"You didn't have to sit next to her in band class. For every single song, she started playing, then stopped, and said loudly, so all of the front row could hear, "Where the HELL is he?'" Michelle glared at Kya.

"Well, this wouldn't be a problem, except for, you know, the whole, 'him not being here' thing. He's always here. Never not here. Always here." Kya crossed her arms and tapped her foot. "Time!" She barked.

Maggie looked at her watch wearily. "Still 12:34- No, wait, 12:35."

"Okay, He's now officially been gone for…Um…" Kya pulled her hands out of her armpits and started counting on her fingers. "Let's see…Woke up at 7:30…"

Maggie opened her mouth to help her figure out the answer, when Michelle put up her hand to stop her from speaking. "Let her work it out." She growled. "This is the quietest she's been all day." Maggie nodded, and kept her mouth shut.

The bell for afternoon classes rang before Kya could figure out how long Knuckles had been gone for, and her two friends sprinted away, happy for the first time that year that they weren't in the same after lunch class as their friend.

As Michelle and Maggie hurried away, they heard Kya begin to say (again), "Where the HE-"

"Hey hey hey! Kya, you know the rules!" A passing teacher caught Kya by the elbow.

"I was going to say 'heck'…" Kya pouted.

"She's got it BAD." Michelle told Maggie.

"Huh, you never noticed before this?" Maggie laughed. "I thought it was obvious from Day One!"

"Yeah, but she hasn't been so vocal 'bout it."

"True."

--

"So, anyway, you going to the dance tonight?" Sasha asked Kya in science class.

Kya looked away from the clock. "Huh? Dance?"

"Yeah, there's a dance tonight, did you forget or something?" Sasha laughed. "C'mon, it'll take your mind off of-" Melly clapped her hand over her mouth before she could say anything.

"Do. Not. Remind. Her." She said through gritted teeth. Sasha nodded, and Melly took her hand away.

"So, you wanna come? It'll be fun." Sasha continued.

"Depends. Are you a robot?" Kya asked, putting her head down on her binder and closing her eyes.

"Don't think so."

"Deal."

--

"You sure you know how to do this?" Knuckles asked, eyeing the machine warily.

"Oh yeah!" Tails said happily, pulling a lever. "I could do it with my eyes closed!"

"Please don't." They had gotten to Sonic and Tails' secret base (it had nice carpet), and Knuckles got to see, "The Machine."

It was large, grey, and had many levers. There was something that looked a little bit like a colander attached to some wires and tubes, which was supposed to go over the subject's head. Once everything was over and done with, Knuckles was supposed to be human. Seemed like a good idea in theory, but now, looking at the machine, Knuckles was getting a little bit nervous.

"Okay, explain one more time how this is supposed to work." Knuckles told Tails. "Just because Sonic's curious."

"Oh yes." Sonic said, completely absorbed in his magazine. "Uh-huh. Yeah. Smart boy, Tails."

"Basically, what's going to happen is, I'm going to insert some of the power of chaos into your body. Not actually any of the chaos energy, but the power that the energy gives off." Tails explained. "Now, the way it's supposed to work is, you'll have the power to manipulate your genetics, because of the chaos energy-power. But, since it won't be pure chaos, you'll be able to control it. It worked on the test subjects quite well." Tails said proudly.

"Test subjects?"

Tails held up an apple. "This used to be an orange."

Knuckles took the apple. "Your guinea pigs were fruits? Wait, I have a better question, don't answer that one. Why did the orange want to be an apple?"

"I projected pictures of an apple at it while the machine was on." Tails shrugged. "It seemed to work. Sonic ate the rest of the test subjects, so I can't show you any more."

"Okay, so all I have to do is think of myself as a human, really strongly? Gotcha." Knuckles stepped up to the machine and put the colander on his head. "Go." He tossed the apple to Sonic, who caught it and started eating it, not stopping reading his magazine.

"Actually, one more thing." Tails rubbed the back of his neck. "You might not be able to transform back into an echidna."

"Hold on." Knuckles took the colander off his head. "You don't know? What about the apple-orange?"

"Well, I tried putting it back in the machine, and projecting images of an orange at it, but it didn't work. So, if you do this, there's a chance you'll be a human forever, or turn into something completely different. You might want to think about it for a while." Tails told him, unhappy something of his might not work.

"Yeah, you bet I wanna think about it!" Knuckles told him, and stormed out of the secret base where he found a nice rock wall to lean against. This is what went on inside his head for the next few minutes.

_Okay. Might turn into something completely different. Not good. But, might turn into human. Okay, not too bad. Hell, might even turn into a human who can turn into an echidna. That would be good. Now, what's important here? Kya, the Master Emerald, and myself. In that order? Maybe. Dunno. _

_If I do option B, I could function really well here. But, what if I get to go home, and take the Emerald with me, and leave Kya here? Well, I could probably fight somewhat, but not as well as I can now. Oh well, I can just tough it out. _

_Option A…Not good. Am I willing to take that chance? Maybe. Is looking after Kya THAT important? Stupid, course it is. But, what if I turn into something useless? ...Maybe I just have to take that chance. I mean, if this works out, it would be perfect for this situation. Human when outside with Kya, and echidna rest of the time. _

_Okay. I'm going in._

_Jeez, whenever Kya has to do something scary, she has me to hold her hand. Who's going to hold my hand?_

Knuckles went back inside the secret base. "Okay. I'm going to do it." He affixed the colander above his head again.

"Only if you're 100 sure." Tails told him. Sonic had put down his magazine, and was watching.

"Ready?" Tails asked, after he had pulled a few levers to start the machine humming. Knuckles took a deep breath, and nodded.

Tails pulled the last lever.

When the power of chaos energy entered Knuckles' body, he honestly wants to tell you about the experience. But, it's too complicated. The best way to describe it, he decided, was, everything and anything happened to you, all at once. And, that kept happening, over and over again, every single second. Only, seconds didn't exist anymore, and nothing really seemed to be real anymore, and YOU don't seem to be real, and then it's over.

"Knuckles?" Tails leaned over Knuckles' body, steam and smoke clearing away.

"You okay buddy?" Sonic asked, leaning in even closer than Tails.

"Think so…" Knuckles stood up, and rubbed his head. "That…Was weird." He looked down at his friends, and realized that he actually had to look down. He jumped, which made them even shorter. "Oh my God!"

Sonic and Tails stared up at him, Sonic's mouth slightly open. "It worked." Tails stated.

Knuckles the echidna had turned into Knuckles the human.

He was tall, around six feet, and still had maintained his dreadlocks. They were a darker shade of red than before, but still recognizable as his. His skin was dark in colour- He looked as though he would have fit in perfectly down in Mexico. Only his eyes showed him not to be Mexican. They slanted upwards slightly, giving him a more Oriental look. They were still violet though.

And, of course, he was completely naked, except for shoes and gloves.

"It worked!" Tails yelled, breaking the silence. "It worked!" He grabbed Sonic's hands, and started doing a dance of victory. "It worked!"

"Turn me back!" Knuckles ordered. "It might not have worked that well."

"Okay, okay, put the helmet back on." Tails said, gesturing. Once Knuckles has done as he was told, Tails pulled a lever again.

Nothing happened.

"How come I'm still human?"

"I don't know!"

"Turn him back!"

"I can't!"

"I'm stuck like this?"

"Maybe!"

"Oh my God!"

"Oh my God!"

"It worked!"

Tails hadn't gotten over the fact that his machine worked on humans, so he tried to focus on that as Sonic and Knuckles were freaking out. He managed to calm down (harder than you would think with a screaming hedgehog and almost crying naked guy standing in the same room as you), and tried to figure it out.

"Knuckles!" He yelled, once he had an idea. "Think of yourself as an echidna!"

"Okay!" Knuckles yelled back, still panicking. The image of his echidna self floated through his brain, and he focused on it.

Slowly but surely, he turned back into an echidna.

"How'd he do that?" Sonic yelled, having not calmed down yet. "How?"

"I realized what was wrong with the way we were doing it before. He already has the power of chaos inside him; he just needs to focus it into more useable energy." Tails smiled, pleased with himself.

Knuckles, meanwhile, was busy turning back and forth from an echidna to a human. "Neat." He decided finally. "You guys should do it too."

"What?" Tails asked, turning pale beneath his fur. "Why?"

"For the same reason as me! To blend in!" Knuckles smiled, grabbed the colander, and planted it on Tails' head. "Now, which lever was it again?"

"Not that one!" Tails grabbed his hand to stop him. "Okay, this one. Let's do it."

Tails went through a completely different version of chaos than Knuckles did, but it had the same basic principle. Once he was human, he looked like a normal, twelve year old white boy, with blond hair with a shock of white for his bangs and big blue eyes.

"Me next!" Sonic grabbed the colander, and slammed it down on his own head. "Go!"

As human, Sonic had short, bright blue hair, green eyes, and his normal smirk fell into place right away. "Cool."

"Now, we gotta go back to Kya's house!" Knuckles ran out of the secret base, followed by Sonic and Tails.

Once they had reached the freeway and had hidden in some very convenient trees so cars would stop honking at them, Tails decided out loud: "Okay. Animals for now. Humans once we get pants."

"Agreed." Chorused his friends.

--

"Having fun yet?" Michelle asked Kya, who was leaning against a wall in the school gym.

"I'm practically peeing my pants, I'm so happy." She said in a dull voice. "I should go, he won't know where to find me-" She pushed herself off the wall, and started to walk away, when Michelle grabbed her arm.

"We told Lucas where we are, Knuckles will go to the house first, it'll be okay." Michelle reminded her. "Until then, try and relax, alright?"

"Yeah, but what if he's hurt? What if he got in a fight with Robotnik? What if he needs the power of the Master Emerald?" Kya began to panic, when Michelle patted her shoulder and smiled.

"He'd get through it. He's smart, tough, and will be okay. Now, stop obsessing over it. Dance a little. Have some fun!" Maggie grabbed Michelle, and pulled her away from Kya.

"She better?" Maggie yelled though the loud bass beat.

"She hasn't said THAT sentence for a while." Michelle shrugged. "You tell me."

"Where the HELL is he?" They heard through the music, and, looking through the crowd, saw Kya biting her nails.

"Not better." Maggie decided. "God, when he gets here, I'm going to rip him a new one."

"You'll have to get through Kya first." Michelle told her.

--

"C'mon Lucas, it's me! I swear!" Knuckles pleaded at the door of the house he had been living at for the past six months.

"No. Knuckles is an echidna. You sir, are no echidna." Lucas leaned against the doorframe and stared at the odd trio that had shown up on his porch.

The 'odd trio' had managed to find clothes that fit on a clothesline (Knuckles had memorized the address so he could return the clothes later. Or pay for them. This shirt was nice.), and now were trying to convince Lucas of their identity.

"I WAS an echidna, but Tails made a machine to manipulate chaos, and turned me into a human." Knuckles explained. "It was really confusing."

Lucas stared at the weird guy who wanted him to tell of his little sister's whereabouts. "Get off my porch."

Knuckles scowled, fixed the echidna image in his mind, and shrunk down into his echidna form. "Better?" He asked, black shirt billowing around him.

"Okay, I'm going to go with this." Lucas decided after almost a full minute of thinking. "I mean, I was just trying to get a guy to convince me that he was a video game character. This shouldn't be that much harder to accept. She's at the school dance." He closed the door, and went to get himself some strong black coffee. Knuckles transformed back into a human.

"To the school!" Sonic struck a pose, and set off running. Tails and Knuckles sighed, and following, Knuckles gently herding Sonic in the right direction.

Once they had gotten to the school, they snuck through the crowd who had already paid, and got into the gym. "Jeez, crappy security." Sonic remarked to Tails, while Knuckles was scanning the crowd for Kya.

"There she is!" Knuckles set off to go get her, when Sonic grabbed his shoulder and almost made him fall over.

"Hold it." Sonic told him. "Look at her. Biting her nails, leaning on a wall, looking around constantly. She's missing you."

"Yeah, that's why I'm going to her." Knuckles said slowly.

Tails hit his forehead. "Knuckles, you've had a crush on her since practically the day you met, and you're going to let this opportunity go by?"

"I DO NOT HAVE A CRUSH ON HER!" Knuckles yelled, startling a few kids around them.

Sonic rolled his eyes. "Sure you don't. Anyway, you're in a body she doesn't recognize, you're at a dance…" He trailed off. "Get my meaning?" He asked.

Knuckles, still ticked about that stupid 'crush' remark, thought for a second. Then, the light bulb clicked. "Oh. OH!"

"And he gets it." Tails grinned, watching as Knuckles set off through the crowd again.

Sonic thought for a moment. "Maybe he gets it."

As Kya continued leaning against the wall, she grabbed a random kid and yelled, "Time!" in his ear. He showed her his watch, and she let him go, with a nod of thanks. "Jeez, where the hell is he?" She mumbled almost silently under the loud music.

A guy she didn't know walked up to her, and yelled if she wanted to dance. Kya nodded. Time to stop thinking about him. Time to stop obsessing.

Knuckles, who was the guy who asked her to dance (He got it) smiled when he heard her thoughts, keeping his thoughts secret.

As they danced, Knuckles discovered that he couldn't dance. That was alright though, since Kya found it cute. She was still looking over her shoulder and peering around the gym looking for him though. Knuckles thought that was cute, but she didn't know that. What he didn't find cute was what she was planning to do to him when she found him. (It involved a spoon and his eyeballs)

The song ended, and a slow song started playing. Kya went to move back to her wall, but Knuckles grabbed her arm and pulled her closer. He looked down at her, and Kya felt a shiver go though her body. She allowed herself to be pulled into the dance, but still looked over her shoulder, looking for him.

Knuckles had to work hard at keeping his thoughts unheard when he heard what she was thinking about his new human body. Still, he managed to keep his face straight, and kept swaying to the music.

When they had been dancing for about half a minute, Knuckles decided enough was enough. He pulled her even closer to his body, and said into her ear, "I've never broken a promise to you, why do you seem to think I have now?"

Kya jerked her head away. "Excuse me?" She said over the music. "What are you talking about; I don't even know your name!"

Knuckles smiled down at her. "I told you I'd be back. I'll always come for you; you don't need to look so hard."

Kya frowned, and then opened her eyes wide. She looked her dance partner up and down, and Knuckles laughed. "Yeah, it's me."

"But…How…What….Human?" Kya finally settled on a question, though it wasn't a very good one.

"Tails did it. Do you like it?" He asked, pushing her away slightly so she could look at him more.

"Yeah, really like it…Wait a sec." Kya had just remembered that she was angry with him. "You son of a BITCH!" She yelled, pushing away from him fully and beating on him with both arms. "Do you have ANY idea how worried I was ANY idea of what you put me through, you BASTARD!"

Laughing, Knuckles pulled her closer. "I'm back now though, that's all that matters, right?"

Biting her upper lip so she wouldn't yell at him, Kya sighed and let go of her anger. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just so glad you're okay!" She hugged him tightly, still swaying to the music. "If you ever do that again though, I'll take your eyeballs out with a spoon, alright?"

Knuckles winced, and patted her head. "Yeah. Alright."

Pulling back some, Kya looked up at him as she asked, "Where are Sonic and Tails? I'm guessing they had something to do with this."

"Over there." Knuckles said, pointing over to a corner.

Sonic and Tails were standing there, trying to blend in. Sonic was making finger guns and cocking them at the cute girls, and Tails was blushing from all the attention he was getting from the younger girls.

"So, now what?" Kya asked. "Do we stay here?"

Knuckles frowned as he thought. Though his mind was screaming at him to stay and keep dancing with her, you IDIOT, why are other thoughts even going into your brain, he carefully kept those thoughts away from Kya.

"Let's stay here." He decided. "And, I'm going to keep dancing with you all night."

When Kya looked in his eyes, Knuckles quickly explained himself. "This is good surveillance. No one here knows that I'm your Guardian, I can see who's a threat."

"Just stop talking." Kya told him as she rested her head on his shoulder.

"Gotcha."

As Michelle and Maggie watched the two dance, visible relief went through them. "Oh thank God." Michelle said. "I didn't think I could stand anymore."

"Same." Sonic said, coming up from behind her. "It was getting painful."

"Like the hair." Maggie told him.

"It's all natural babe." Sonic smoothed his hair back. "Dance?"

"Sure. Touch anything with those hands though, and I'll have to remove them."

"Understood."

As Sonic and Maggie went off to dance, Michelle went up to Tails. "Hey, wanna dance?" She asked him.

Tails blushed even more, but before he could stammer out a reply, Michelle interrupted. "Keep in mind; it's only to keep off the harpies." She said, hooking a thumb towards a group of girls staring daggers at her.

"Ah. That, I understand."

And so they all had fun, in a very cheesy fashion, by dancing all night.

Of course, when Kya and Knuckles got home from that night, Lucas had a few things to say about staying out all night. But we'll end this with a good feeling, so we won't tell you what he said.

--

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Remove spaces, and you're there!

Thanks for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

Helllooo evarybody! Thank you for reading. This is the second to last chapter, and we are hoping you are enjoying this as much as we are. Link to picture at the bottom. As usual. Please review.

Robotnik steepled his fingers. "So. You know where I can find the girl?"

"Yeah. I know which house is hers, where she hangs out, the path she takes to school, the works. No problem."

Robotnik leaned forward in his chair. "And you'll be able to distract the echidna?"

"Yeah. Some of my boys will get him to fight them, and then you can come in and get the girl."

"The echidna is strong- will your boys be able to hold him off for long?" Robotnik asked.

"Long enough."

"Good. I have one question though- why are you helping me?" Robotnik leaned back in his chair, watching the speaker through half-closed eyes.

The speaker stepped forward into the light. "Because I hate her." He stated simply.

Robotnik grinned. "Excellent. Welcome aboard, Mitch."

--

"This is boring." Knuckles complained as he and Kya walked to school. "And cold. Why is it cold?"

"It's winter. And if you think this is cold, you're in for some big surprises." Kya stuck out her tongue to catch some snowflakes.

"I still disapprove." Knuckles complained. "And, I don't think you're wearing a good enough coat."

"Oh, whine, whine, whine." Kya laughed. "Who was it that I had to convince to wear proper boots this morning?"

"Well, I haven't braved one of your horrible Canadian winters; I don't know how it's supposed to go- you're the one who supposed to know how to survive." Knuckles pulled his scarf up over his nose, and continued speaking, slightly muffled. "Besides, the snow isn't that deep."

Kya shook her head, smiled, and refused to answer him. She raised one of her hands to catch a snowflake, and then she was picked up by a flying robot that carried her away before she even had time to scream.

Later, when he had time to reflect, Robotnik realized that perhaps the old, "grab-her-and-RUN" plan maybe wasn't the best idea. Sure, their original plan was complicated and involved many staged fistfights and extraordinary amounts of luck, but he thought it would work, honest.

But, when they had been flying to the school to put part one of plan A into action, Mitch had seen Kya and Knuckles walking down the street, and grabbing her and flying away had seemed like a good idea at the time.

They hadn't even started the rest of the plan yet- Robotnik had thought that there was going to be more time before they had her, so the machine wasn't quite ready yet, but they had a place to keep her, so Mitch could just shut up, thank you very much.

So, while Robotnik was working his butt off trying to work out all the kinks in his new machine, the ungrateful brat who wouldn't even be here without him was teasing the prisoner in her cage.

"Mitch, seriously, you don't know what you're doing." Kya tried to explain to him again. "This is much, much, MUCH bigger than you and me- people are going to get hurt."

"Heh. You just keep telling yourself that you're special." Mitch tapped the glass in front of Kya's face.

Kya banged on the glass, making Mitch jump. "You're so stupid! I'm the Master Emerald! I AM the Master Emerald! Robotnik wants ME, he doesn't care who he has to hurt to get it!"

"At least someone wants you, other than that stupid animal." Mitch snickered. "As is, I don't know why I ever went out with you."

Kya leaned against the wall and slide down to the floor. "Mitch, I'm beginning to wonder the same thing myself." Kya closed her eyes, and breathed out slowly. _Okay. What are my options?_ She asked herself. _One- Sit here and have whatever Robotnik wants done to me, done to me. Two- Break the glass with my shoe and threaten to slit someone's throat with it. Three- Hope to God that Knuckles finds a way here to save me. Well, obviously, option three would be the best. Option one is pretty high up there on the 'never EVER happening' list. Option two? I hope it doesn't come to it. But, just in case…_

Opening her eyes a little bit, Kya looked over at her shoe, which she tried to undo with as little finger-movement possible. _From now on, I'm going to wear my steel-toed boots wherever I go!_ She promised herself.

--

Lucas had just poured himself his fifth cup of coffee when Knuckles burst into the house. "I thought you two left for school?" He asked.

"Robotnik took Kya." Knuckles said grimly as he ran up to Kya's room.

"Who what?" Lucas slammed his coffee cup down on the counter. "You said she would be safe!" He yelled as he followed Knuckles up the stairs.

"I thought she would be!" Knuckles yelled back as he rummaged through pieces of paper Kya had saved. He had made Sonic and Tails get a phone last time they had seen each other, and the number was written down somewhere. Aha. Found it.

"Why weren't you looking after her? What's going to happen to her? Is she going to be okay?" Lucas frantically asked. "Are you going after her?"

"Yeah." Knuckles ran downstairs, shoving Lucas out of the way. "I need to call some guys first."

Lucas followed him down. "Is there a chance you're going to be able to succeed?"

Knuckles gave a grave smile before fiddling with the phone. "We could. More amazing things have happened."

Lucas took the phone and dialled the number on the sheet of paper for Knuckles. "Do you want me to call the cops?"

Knuckles started to shake his head, changed his mind and then nodded. "We probably won't need you, but you never know. We'll call as soon as we're down, and if there is serious trouble. You'll have to phone the army."

"Right. Wait, 'down'?" Lucas repeated, but by then Sonic had picked up.

"Robotnik took Kya." Knuckles told him."

"Snap!" Sonic said, and then there was a loud thunking sound.

Tails then started talking. "Sonic dropped the phone and ran outside. What's going on?"

"Robotnik took Kya." Knuckles repeated impatiently. "Come get me so we can go get her."

"Right. As soon as I find Sonic, we'll be on the Tornado 2.0, coming for you."

"Right." Knuckles handed the phone to Lucas, who clicked it off. "I'll be going in about five minutes." He told Lucas.

Lucas nodded. Knuckles opened the door and started to run out, when Lucas said, "Wait."

Knuckles looked over his shoulder. "If anything happens to my little sister…" Lucas began.

Knuckles nodded. "Nothing will." He ran outside, already scanning the sky for the Tornado 2.0.

--

"So when we gonna fry the chick, anyway?" Mitch asked, looking over Robotnik's shoulder.

Robotnik's eye twitched. "We are not going to 'fry' her. We are going to take out the particles of the Master Emerald, and use that power to take over this defenceless world."

"Who what?" Kya asked. "If you do that, I will definitely die."

Robotnik swivelled around in his chair. "That's not really highest on my list of concerns." He said with an evil grin.

"You got told!" Mitch said, with an imitation of an evil grin.

Kya banged against the glass, being careful to not move her feet so her shoe wouldn't fall off. "Robotnik, listen to reason! Even Hannibal Lecter listened to reason!"

"I don't know who that is." Robotnik said shortly, turning his chair around.

"If you do this, Knuckles will kill you! I'm not exaggerating! He will actually kill you!" Kya banged on the glass again, beginning to panic.

"Where is the little fur-ball anyway?" Mitch asked.

"I…Doesn't matter, he's coming for me!" Kya shot back.

"You don't know where he is, do you?" Mitch asked, coming closer to the glass. "You have no idea if you're ever going to get out of here, do you?"

"You…You're an asshole." Kya said weakly.

"Boy!" Robotnik barked. "Go get me some of my tools! Do you want me to get this done?"

"Yeah, yeah." Mitch said, slouching away.

_It's bull, that's all it is. _ Kya reassured herself. _Knuckles is coming for me, of course he is. He would have to find Sonic first, and then he would have to figure out where we were, and all in all, it's a very long process. _Kya bit her knuckle. _Of course he's coming for me._

--

"What do you mean, the plan isn't working?" Knuckles screamed at Tails as they flew above one of the oceans.

"We can't find them!" Tails shouted back, just above the sound of the blades spinning. "He must have made a machine or something that blocks my tracker!"

"I don't think you understand!" Knuckles yelled back. "This is Kya we're talking about! KYA! Understand?"

"Question!" Sonic yelled from the wing, where he was dangling in his hedgehog form. "Why don't you find her with your mind-thing?"

Knuckles stared at Sonic, and Tails stared at Knuckles. "Well?" Tails finally yelled. "Why can't you find her like that?"

"…Shut up." Knuckles slouched in his seat and tried to concentrate past all the noise from the plane. _KYA. KYA. KYA. Are you okay? Is the Master Emerald alright? Have any parts of you been removed? Where are you?_

_Thank GOD! _Knuckles could very faintly hear Kya's thoughts. _Where WERE you? What took so long? Why didn't you come after me faster?_

"Found her!" Knuckles yelled to Tails. "Keep flying forward, I think!" _Answer my questions first. _He told Kya. _I'll get to yours when I find you. First of all, is the Master Emerald alright?_

_Oh, that's great. Just peachy. _Kya thought sarcastically. _I've been kidnapped, and all you care about is the stupid Emerald._

_…Kya, you ARE the Emerald. I can care about you both._

_How sweet._

Kya growled and pinched the bridge of his nose. Sonic looked over and yelled, "Trouble in paradise?"

"Shut up." _Let me try again. Are you AND the Master Emerald alright?_

_Maybe, maybe not. This whole thing was half set up by Mitch, and I think-_

"The little punk did WHAT?" Knuckles jerked out of his thoughts and into speaking out loud. He then proceeded to call Mitch every dirty name in the book (and some he made up himself), threaten him and his soul with various instruments that can be only be found in horror movies, and ended with the age old standby, "I'll friggen KILL 'im!"

"That's very nice." Tails said, cleaning out one of his ears. "But, doesn't really help with our current situation."

_Are you quite finished? _Being technically inside Knuckles' head, Kya had seen various images of Knuckles and Mitch resembling scenes out of Reservoir Dogs. She approved, but they had business. _They're going to take the Master Emerald out of my body._

_They can't do that without killing you. _Knuckles reminded her.

_Yeah. I know. So, if you don't mind, could you hurry your furry red butt and SAVE ME! _She thought-screamed at him.

_Alright. I have to focus on tracking your signal now, so I can't really talk._

_Hurry._

_Yeah. Oh, and my butt isn't furry or red anymore- I'm human right now, so my butt is quite normal looking._

_Um. Crap, they're taking me somewhere, hurry up!_

With that, Kya ended the thought conversation. Knuckles grabbed the back of Tails' seat. "They're taking her somewhere!" Knuckles screamed in his ear. "Go faster!"

Tails nodded, focusing completely on the small dot that appeared in the distance.

--

Mitch pulled Kya's ropes tighter, and she winced. "Heh." He smirked.

"Please." Was all she said. _Screw that being brave crap. I am about to have my cells divided. I am going to pee myself soon. _"Please. Let me go."

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" He laughed as he walked away.

The smartass within Kya couldn't resist. "Of COURSE I'd like that!" She yelled. "You're going to kill me! You are such an IDIOT!"

Not looking back, Mitch left the room, door sliding shut behind him.

Kya banged the back of her head against the wall, and said some very good swear words.

_You kiss your mother with that mouth?_ She heard the amused thought.

_Knuckles! Where are you? More importantly, WHY AREN'T YOU HERE?_

_Calm down, will you? Tails said that we'd be in the ship in a few minutes. He also said something about how we shouldn't think at each other while I'm in there. _His thoughts were getting louder- he was getting closer.

_ What? Why not?_

_Jeez! What did I JUST tell you? Anyway, Robotnik probably has a machine that picks up on our thoughts. So, shut up._

Kya pressed her teeth together and exhaled loudly. Bit her lip so hard that her teeth made an impression. Swung back on forth on her ropes.

The ropes were actually a smart idea, she reflected. Quite durable and she wasn't able to move, not able to avoid the beam like she could in a cage or box.

She really shouldn't have been thinking like that. Now there were quite graphic images of her cells being painfully divided, and all that was left was a little pile of dust with her glasses on top.

Heh. That was a stupid way to think. Her glasses wouldn't survive if that happened to her body…would they?

Uh oh.

--

Knuckles punched a robot and Sonic did a spin-attack on it as it fell away from him. "Good shot." Sonic observed.

"You'd think so." Knuckles punched through a wall and poked his head through. "Kya?"

"I don't think you'll find her that way." Sonic told him.

"Hey, I don't see you coming up with any better ideas, alright?" Knuckles and Sonic started running through the ship.

"Hey, when Tails disconnects the power from the machines in Eggman's lab, won't the ship fall?" Knuckles asked suddenly.

"Aw jeez, I hope not. That would be brutal." Sonic rounded a corner and Knuckles skidded to almost a stop and then kept running alongside.

"I hope he hurries up. Kya's not gonna live if he doesn't." Knuckles smashed though a wall with his shoulder. "Kya?"

"I think it's a good thing you reverted back to echidna for this. I don't think your human body could stand up to the kind of abuse." Sonic ran through the hole and did a rapid fire spin attack on three robots. "Though, your head's definitely hard enough for it."

"Funny." Knuckles slammed the ground, bouncing a robot twice his size up in the air, and then sent it flying away.

"I have my moments."

--

"Time to start the experiment!" Robotnik said cheerfully as the door slide open, Mitch following behind.

"You don't even know if it's going to work yet? Jeez, you suck." Kya snapped her head back up from where it had been hanging loose on her neck.

"Shut her up." Robotnik told Mitch.

"Gladly." He said, cracking his knuckles, walking quickly across the room to where Kya was bound. Robotnik went to the control panel of something; Kya assumed that it was for the giant laser that was directed in the general direction of her midsection.

Mitch reached for her face, and Kya snapped her teeth. "Little-" Mitch swore, jerking his hand back out of reach.

Kya grinned darkly, and snapped her teeth again.

"She's gonna bite me." Mitch complained to Robotnik.

"So? She doesn't have any diseases! She can't hurt you, not badly anyway." Robotnik typed rapidly at his machine.

"Yeah, but she has sharp teeth!" Mitch whined.

"Oh, for the love of-" Robotnik swivelled his chair around. "Quit being such a baby, and gag her!"

"With what?"

"I don't know, a rag or something!"

"Do you have one with you?"

"No! Let me work!"

"Well, I'm just saying I didn't know about the whole, 'gag her' idea. If you knew it was going to come to it, you should have brought a rag."

"Oh my God." Kya rolled her eyes. "Are you even thinking anymore, or are the words just pouring out?"

Robotnik secretly agreed with her.

"Hey!" Mitch pointed in her direction dramatically. "Shut up!"

"Oh, you're a class act." Kya assured him. "Such wit!"

Mitch growled and shoved his hands deeply into his pockets. "Are you almost done?" He asked Robotnik.

Robotnik hit two last buttons, then nodded. "When it's done charging, I'll have the Master Emerald!"

"R…Really?" Kya asked. "Are you sure? I mean, there could be, like, a power outage or something. And then your plans would be ruined."

Somewhere else in the ship, Tails pulled out a wire. "There!" He looked around- all of the lights were still on, and the machine was still beeping. "Darn. That usually works."

Meanwhile, Kya was still trying to talk Robotnik out of it. "I mean, seriously, aren't Chaos Emeralds enough? You don't really need the Master Emerald, do you?"

"Yep." Robotnik bounced on his heels. "I really honestly do."

"Yeah."

"Shut up Mitch." Kya said without thinking. "Yeah, but you're going to have to deal with Knuckles after this. Isn't that going to suck so hard?"

Robotnik shrugged. "I can handle it."

"GUESS AGAIN!" Knuckles roared, breaking though the wall. Sonic rushed in from behind him, and seemed mildly disappointed that there weren't any robots for him to destroy.

"Oh crap!" Mitch tried to hide, and ran in front of the laser. As it turns out, that was perhaps his most stupid idea yet.

You see, the laser had been doing its job quite nicely. It had been sitting there quietly charging, waiting for the power level to get to the highest level. It got to that level as soon as Mitch ran across its field of view.

Afterwards, everyone agreed that it was very convenient, and quite unlikely. But, it seemed to have happened, and it served its purpose- getting rid of Mitch.

Mitch crumpled to the floor, and Kya screamed. After all, she had seen the laser turn red slowly, and was quite sure that she was about to die. Seeing someone else maybe die was a horrible relief.

Tails rushed into the room. " I wasn't able to get the power off, he did something to the machines, I'm sorry, is she okay, Oh my God, I'm so sorry-" He stopped talking as soon as he saw Kya still tied up to the wall. "Oh thank God." He sighed. Then he saw Mitch. "Oh no!" Tails, being a more considerate soul than Sonic, and not quite as pissed off as Knuckles, went to go check on him.

Knuckles, on the other hand, ran to Kya. "Are you okay?" He asked as he untied the ropes holding her.

She brought down her right hand slowly, rubbing her wrist with her left hand that was released before. "Been better."

Sonic, being the only one (in his mind at least) that was doing the smart thing, did a spin attack to Robotnik.

Robotnik jumped with rather surprising speed (okay, he fell backward and was lucky) towards his chair, which transformed into one of his personal carriers.

"I'll get you if it's the last thing I do!" He swore as he sped out through the hole Knuckles had made.

"Why does he always say that?" Sonic mused, as Kya and Knuckles went to go sit by Mitch.

"Is he okay?" Kya asked.

"And, if he's, you know, real close to death, we can just leave him." Knuckles said, crossing his arms. "Or help him along his way."

"He'll be fine." Tails said, leaning back from Mitch's unconscious body. "My guess is that since he didn't have any Master Emerald in his system, the machine just gave him a bit of a jump."

"Oh. Yay." Knuckles said.

Tails ignored him. "I want to get a better look at this machine. Robotnik said that it would take the Master Emerald out of your system?" Tails asked Kya for clarification.

Kya nodded and gulped. Knuckles noticed and rubbed her leg, hoping that that would help cheer her up.

"Huh. I might be able to modify it, so that it only takes out the Master Emerald, and not take you apart." Tails rubbed his chin. "Maybe, if I take out this part, and add one of my machines, and then turn this around…" He trailed off, and then sat done in front of the machine and started muttering to himself.

Sonic stuck out his tongue, announced that this was boring, and went out and about the ship, destroying robots.

Kya sat down and began to shake. Knuckles didn't notice at first, but then when he shifted his weight to the leg closest to her and felt the vibrations, he guessed.

He touched her shoulder gently. "You okay?" He asked softly.

Kya jumped slightly, and then looked at Knuckles. "Oh yeah, fine." She said with a shaky grin. "Never better. You?" She burst into tears. Knuckles gave her Awkward Man-Pats on her shoulder, then looked at Tails with a slightly terrified expression.

"There are clothes in the plane." Tails said, looking up from the machine for only a moment. "Under the back seat. Yours are the black tank top and the blue jeans."

"Thanks?" Knuckles said, confused. "Oh. Wait. Oh!" He ran out of the room to go get his clothes. Once he was at the plane, he changed into his human form, got dressed, and then ran back to the room where Kya was. He picked her up gallantly, and walked out of the room.

"Go for it, man." Tails said softly, but Knuckles was already gone.

Kya didn't even stop crying when Knuckles picked her up, even though that was very nice. He carried her to an unused room (or so she assumed- there wasn't anything in it, really), and then set her down gently.

"You gonna be okay?" He asked softly, sitting down beside her.

"Oh yeah, I'm going to be fine, they didn't even hurt me, I was just tied up and they were going to kill me, actually going to kill me, oh my God, kill me dead, just because I was involved in something not my fault, I was going to be dead-" Kya began to babble.

"Um." Knuckles still wasn't all that great at dealing with emotional girls. "Uh."

"-I was gonna die, all because I got hybridized with the Master Emerald, I was going to be dead, no one would ever see me again and oh my God, there would be blood, lots of blood, lots of MY blood, because I would be dead-" Kya continued to babble.

Knuckles took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and quite suddenly hugged her.

All of Kya's breath ran out in a whoosh, and she stopped talking. "It's alright." Knuckles told her, eyes still closed, still hugging her tight. "I'm here, it'll be okay."

Kya gulped in air. "Knuckles? You're holding me kinda tight."

"And you can feel it." He told her, and Kya didn't get it. She didn't want to admit that she didn't understand, but Knuckles somehow got the idea- maybe something to do with mind reading?

"You can feel it, because you're not dead. I got to you in time. You're alive."

Kya got it, closed her eyes, and sank against Knuckles. "You're good." She told him. "Really good. I approve."

"Good to know." They sat there for a while, with Knuckles holding Kya much too tightly, but her not really minding, because after all, she was alive, really alive, and could feel things, and think things, and thinking things could prove badly, so she closed off her mind. She found herself thinking of those sappy romantic comedies where the people fell in love in only three days, and she thought wildly, _Not the way it happened with us, no way_, and then she had to stop thinking.

Knuckles was thinking about how her hair smelled like melons, and that melons actually were his favourite fruits, but then again, her neck smelled an awful lot like oranges, and those were pretty good too, but when they were combined, oh God, they were good. He remembered to close his mind off when he started thinking about how he really needed to start buying the groceries more often so that the whole house could smell like Kya.

Kya pulled back slightly, and Knuckles let her. She didn't open her eyes, but he opened his. She bumped her forehead against his, and he closed his eyes again.

They were in this position when Tails burst into the room. "I can definitely use the machine to take out the Master Emerald, and guess what? He also had a machine he was working on that could send us home, and it looks like it works! We can go home again!" He babbled happily without looking at them. When he noticed what they were doing, his tails drooped slightly. "Oh. I'll come back later."

Kya jerked back from Knuckles, and Knuckles let his arms fall from around her. "So, I guess we'll be going home soon." He said awkwardly.

"Yeah. Good thing, huh?" She said with a weak smile, and they both laughed. Inside their minds (without bothering to conceal these ones) they both thought, _Crap._

Annnnnnd, that's it! Hope you liked it ! We should have the next one up soon. We hope.

Here is the link-- http : / wolf-howl89 .deviantart. com /art/ KKME -Part- Eight -96131461


	9. Chapter 9

THIS IS IT EVERYONE! This is the final chapter. Thank you all so much for reading this! It means so much to me that some people out there enjoyed my first fanfiction I actually LIKED (I have two Legend of Zelda, and a Harry Potter one saved on my laptop--I wrote the Harry Potter one while I was sick, and thus deliorous. It's...weird), you have no idea. Everyone who reviewed, or added me to their author alert list, or who added this story to their alerts, whatever you did, thank you from the bottom of my heart!

See if you can see the little nod to the 'Hellboy' movie in this chapter. It's near the end.

--

Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck. "So. Um. Guess that this is it?"

Kya bit her lip. "Uh. Yeah."

Knuckles scuffed the ground with his shoe. Being awkward in human form was always horrible. "Better get going then, huh?"

"Yup, heh heh."

The pair was standing in Kya's room, and Kya had to honestly say that it was one of the worst moments of her entire life.

_I don't think he has to do this, not yet anyway._ She thought quietly, biting her thumb knuckle. _I mean, we have a week._

Tails had figured out how to manipulate Robotnik's machine after two days ('working out the kinks', he called his test period), and he was sending everyone home in a week. He was giving them this time to sort out their affairs instead of just sending them home because Knuckles had a little 'talk' with him about how if he sent them home before Knuckles was ready, Tails would have a little furry part of him drop-kicked to the moon.

Or something along those lines.

_I better get packing then. _Knuckles thought with a sigh, and picked up the bag Kya had given him. "Well." He said, going to the corner of the room where his stuff was kept.

"Yep." Kya said, rubbing her elbow.

Knuckles looked at the various things he had collected over the past couple months he had lived with Kya—A small statue of a mountain goat, a few sweaters, and a pair of shorts. Not much. No one would remember him when he was gone.

_I will._ He heard Kya think.

Without turning around, he thought _I could have sworn that we agreed not to listen to each other's thoughts without telling them._

_Yes, well, I have bigger things on my mind. _Kya thought sourly, and turned and walked out of the room. Knuckles sighed, and shoved one of his sweaters in the bag. He looked at the bag for a moment, then growled and threw it at the wall. It hit the wall with a soft thud, and fell to the ground. Knuckles stalked out of the room to find Kya.

He found her sitting on the floor, leaning on the refrigerator. "Look, it's not my choice to leave, okay? We're going to take the Master Emerald out of you, and I have to go back home to guard it."

"You think I don't know that?" Kya asked, temper rising. "I know what's going to happen, Tails told us at the same time!"

"I know you know, I just don't know why you're being so whiny about it!" Knuckles yelled, waving his arms around slightly.

"I'M being whiny? Who's been moping around the house all week because you finally get to go home and be with your beloved ROCK!" Kya stood up and shouted.

"Yeah, because going home and being with a ROCK is going to be much better than being with you, a Master Emerald who whines all the time!" Knuckles yelled, getting up close to Kya's face.

"That's perfect then! I'm happy for you!" She shouted, turning on her heel and going out the back door. "You'll finally be with a power source that shuts up, right?"

"Yes!" He bellowed. Kya scowled, slammed the door, and stormed down the sidewalk, muttering.

Lucas poked his head out of the living room. "Are there any survivors?"

Knuckles growled and punched the fridge. Lucas nodded, and came into the kitchen. "Please don't do that."

"What would you rather me punch?" Knuckles roared.

"A tree?" Lucas said, looking at the damage to his fridge. "That Mitch kid? Sonic? An innocent puppy?"

Knuckles started to growl again, but it dissolved into a whimper of some sorts. "What am I doing wrong?"

"Punching a fridge that in all rights is older than you." Lucas said, frowning at the dent.

"Nooo, with Kya!" Knuckles flung himself down on the floor and banged the back of his head on the fridge, repeating, "Stupid!" with each bang.

"Hey." Lucas said, a little concerned. He sat down beside Knuckles. "Hey." He repeated.

Knuckles kept banging his head on the fridge.

"Hey." Lucas said, a bit more concerned. "Hey, don't do that. You'll dent something."

Knuckles stopped, sighed, and gently leaned his head on the fridge. "What am I doing wrong?" He asked again.

"Leaving." Lucas stated simply. "Girls don't like it when you leave. It upsets them."

"But she knows that I have to, it's my job-" Knuckles started, and Lucas shook his head.

"Yeah, she knows you have to. She still doesn't want you to." He told him.

"But-" Knuckles began to protest.

"Ah!" Lucas interrupted. "Trust me. I work in the media."

"But…I DON'T GET IT." Knuckles yelled, slamming his head on the fridge again.

"Love rarely makes sense." Lucas muttered to himself. Louder, he said, "Well, I dunno what to do. If this was one of those silly movies Kya watches while eating ice cream and crying, you should just 'follow your heart', or 'never say you're sorry', or play Peter Gabriel really loudly, or hey! You could get shot or something! That one almost always works!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Knuckles looked at him steadily.

"Or you could never give her up, and never let her down." Lucas was smiling now. "Or maybe you could just wake her up before you go-go."

Knuckles stood up. "You're not allowed listening to eighties music ever again." He shoved his hands in his pockets and went outside.

"Hey, where you going?" Lucas yelled from his seat beside the fridge.

"Shopping. You gave me an idea."

--

"I mean, he's so….not good!" Kya ranted to Michelle, sitting on the floor of Michelle's kitchen. "Can you believe he's…doing his job!"

"Yes Kya." Michelle nodded. "He's such a jerk. In fact, this is such jerkish behaviour, you should go up to him and make out with him until he submits to your all-mighty power and stays with you forever."

"Why do all of your suggestions involve me making out with him, or confessing undying love, or sitting on his lap and humping wildly?"

"Or all three." Kya gave Michelle a Look. Michelle sighed, and put down the book she had been reading while Kya was ranting. "Look, all I'm trying to say is, maybe it would be good now if you admitted that you have feelings for him."

Kya opened her mouth to protest said feelings, but ended up saying, "You think that will get him to stay with me?"

Michelle shrugged. "Maybe. He really does have to go and look after the Master Emerald, you know."

Kya sighed, then banged the back of her head on Michelle's fridge. "Why does life have to be so…life-like."

"I know, reality interferes with a large amount of my plans." Michelle nodded sympathetically.

Kya let out a long breath. "I'm gonna go outside and scream cuss words and declarations of love until I can't talk anymore. That all right with you?"

"Go right ahead."

--

A few days went by. Tails and Sonic came back into town, and Tails said that they should take the Master Emerald out of Kya now, because he didn't feel like doing it later. They had stored the various machines in Kya's basement, so they were easily accessible.

"You sure that this will work?" Kya asked as Tails strapped her into the machine.

"Oh yeah, no doubt about it. It'll go great." He assured her, tightening a strap along her waist. "It should take about a minute, so try not to move."

"Kay then." Kya took a deep breath, and looked over at Knuckles. _So, this is the beginning of the end, isn't it._

_Yeah. No more evil robots chasing you._

_I will admit, that will be nice. However, and I'm only going to think this once, so pay attention, I'm going to miss you. A lot. Like, I think something might rupture if I miss you as much as I think I'm going to._

Knuckles cocked his head to the side. _….Likewise._

"Kay, it's about to start now Kya!" Tails yelled from the control panel.

"Alrighty then." Kya took a deep breath and clenched her teeth. "Go!"

The laser shot a thin red beam at her chest, and Kya felt a mild burning sensation. Then it felt like her body was ripped apart, but it didn't hurt. It felt more like…Kya couldn't even begin to describe it. It was like ripping off a band-aid, but not hurty, and it involves a lot more soul.

Kya heard Tails talking, then the machine switched off. Kya wiggled her feet as Tails walked over from the controls and thought, _That wasn't that bad._

And no one thought back. Kya looked around, and Knuckles was in the room, but he was looking at a giant emerald that had appeared in her basement directly above the place where they kept soup.

_Oh right. Emerald out. Emerald bonuses out as well._ Kya sighed.

After Tails got her down, Kya looked at the Master Emerald. "So, this is it."

"Yeah…" Knuckles sounded slightly out of it. Kya glanced at him, and saw that his eyes were slightly glazed over. _Well, of course he's happy. Why wouldn't he be—this is what he's been waiting for this entire time._

"So, why did it form itself back into the right shape?" She asked, just to break the silence.

"Magic." Knuckles replied. "It has that ability."

"I see."

More silence.

"Well, I'm gonna get going." Tails said, feeling the awkwardness. "Since Eggman has very conveniently been doing something that does not involve us at all, the Emerald can stay here until we go home, kay Knux?"

"Yeah, sure, sure." Knuckles said, still staring at the Emerald.

Kya glanced at Tails, who shrugged and left the basement. Knuckles sat down on the floor and kept looking at the Master Emerald.

Kya cleared her throat. "So, you want some alone time with that thing, or what?" She asked, only half joking.

"No, you can stay." He said, completely serious. "You should stay in fact—this should be a major event for you too."

"Really now." Kya settled herself on the floor beside him. "How so?"

"Well, think about it. This Emerald represents infinite power, and horrible destruction. It has been in pieces for far too long, and you would think that that could affect its beauty. But it hasn't. It has everything I could ever want of it."

"I see." Kya began to get up. "I can tell you have some serious thought about this. I should really let you be by yourself—it clearly means a lot to you."

"Huh wha?" For the first time in a while, Knuckles looked at her. "What are you talking about? Are you telling me you don't feel this?"

"No, I do not feel whatever it is you're feeling." Kya told him, fully standing now.

"But—you—I don't—but you had all of that beauty inside of you for so long, how could you not be affected by this?" He asked, completely and utterly baffled.

"…Come again?" Kya asked from the bottom of the steps up to the main level of the house.

"You had so much beauty inside of you; it rubbed off, didn't it? I mean, I can see the beauty in you. Are you telling me you don't feel that light?" He stared at her, still confused.

Kya felt muscles tighten somewhere in her body, and she knew she was going to start to cry. "Oh yeah, I-I know what you're talking about." She said, trying to sound light. "Now that you explain it, I get it, yeah."

"Good." Knuckles said, completely satisfied. "I had no idea how to explain the beauty that the Emerald gave you, so it's good that you get it."

Kya wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "Yeah." She went and sat down beside Knuckles again. "I see the beauty that the Emerald gives." She rested her head on Knuckles' shoulder, and looked at the Emerald with him.

After a while, Lucas walked by and seeing that the basement light was on, switched the light switch off. Kya and Knuckles stayed down there, sitting the glow that the Emerald gave off.

--

The day had come. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were sitting in the kitchen, conversing about how stupid Eggman really was, when Lucas came in from his bedroom.

"Okay, you evil little red-furred/haired devil." He told Knuckles, taking the back of his chair and spinning it so Knuckles was facing him. "I can put up with you screwing around with my sister's mind for only so long. You tell her how you feel today, before you leave, not through a note or anything stupid like that, and you deal with the freaking results, be they a crying Kya, an enraged Kya, a lovey Kya, or a combination of all three. Got it?"

"Uh." Knuckles blinked.

"You had better freaking get it, because I work in the media, and by God, I will use my powers for evil against you and you alone." Lucas spun the chair around to face the proper direction, and left the room.

"…That was quite possibly the scariest thing I have ever seen in my life." Sonic said after a few seconds of stunned silence.

"Agreed." Said the rest of the table.

Kya came downstairs. "So, you guys leaving or what?" She asked. "'Cuz you know, I made plans today."

"Yeah, in a couple minutes." Tails said.

"Awesome. So, it was cool meeting you guys." She said, opening the fridge.

"Kya, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" Knuckles asked, standing up.

"Yeah, sure." She said quickly, slamming the fridge and twirling on her heels to face him.

"Kay." He nodded and went to the door. He opened it, and waited for her to go through before he went himself.

Left at the table, Sonic said to Tails, "Dude, I think he's doing it."

"Ya think?"

Outside, they stood on the porch, looking at their feet. "So, you wanted to say something to me?" Kya asked, overly casual.

"Well, I got you a goodbye present, and I didn't want the guys to make fun of me." Knuckles said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"You got me something? I didn't get you anything. I didn't know we were doing the present thing, otherwise I would have so gotten you something, and it would have been a good one-" Kya began to babble.

"Kya." Knuckles cut her off. He took a box from the back pocket of his jeans. "It's kinda silly, but I think you might like it." He handed her the box.

Kya looked at it. It was small, green, and covered in a fine fuzz. It was a jewellery box. "Oh." She opened it, and gasped. "Jesus Mary and Joseph."

It was a small emerald, no bigger than a ladybug, but it was an emerald, and it was the only jewel Kya had ever been given. "How did you—Why—How much—How did you get the money?" She blurted out.

"A lot of people owed me favours." He admitted. "Do you like it?"

Kya made little gasping noises. "It's…It's very likely the nicest thing I have ever gotten." She looked up at him. "Thank you."

Knuckles smiled. "You're welcome."

Kya closed the box and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back, both of them squeezing as hard as they could.

Kya let go first. "I guess you better get going." She said, wiping her eyes with the hand that wasn't holding onto the box.

"Yeah." He said, clearing his throat. "Don't wanna keep the guys waiting." They both went inside and started down to the basement.

Sonic and Tails looked at each other, shrugged, got up and followed them.

Lucas was in the basement when they went down there, pretending he was looking for the potatoes. "Bye guys." He said, not looking up from what he doing. "You should try and find ways to visit."

"Hey, yeah!" Sonic said, excited. "Can we come back soon?"

Tails shrugged. "No reason not to."

"Awesome!"

Lucas caught Knuckles' eye and cracked his knuckles meaningfully.

Tails switched the machine on, and it powered up quickly. "Emerald first, then whoever, kay?" They picked up the Emerald, and VERY carefully (Knuckles could not stress this enough) put it through the portal. "Kay, now who?" Tails asked.

"I'll go first." Knuckles said suddenly.

"Uh, yeah, sure." Tails said, a little bit taken back.

"Alright." Knuckles turned and faced Kya, who was a bit startled herself at Knuckle's quickness.

"Kya, I'm going to go to a different dimension now, so this is the last time we'll be able to talk for a bit. So here goes. I'm in love with you, but I have to go look after a rock. I want to stay, but no, doesn't work out that way. Bye, and I love you." He grabbed her roughly by the sides of the head and kissed her hard.

It was a very short kiss, and the second it was over Knuckles jumped back, and through the portal.

Kya stood there for a second, completely and utterly blank. Then what happened sunk in. "He just…but…it was…but he's…why…" She began making gestures with her hands that looked like stabbing.

"Did not see that coming." Sonic stated. "I'm gonna go." He ducked through the portal, where Knuckles was lying on the ground, breathing heavily.

"Dude, you broke her." Sonic told him.

"I thought it might." Knuckles said, staring at the sky.

Back on Earth, Kya was beginning to form almost sentences. "But he kissed…Why would he…"

"She's gonna explode any second now." Lucas said. "I'd advise you to duck."

"Why?" Tails asked, and then the world ended from Kya's wraith.

Not really, but close.

"Why would that –insert many bad words that would not get past any censors- DO something like that? Why would he be so horrible? If he loved me, then why would try his hardest to make me HATE HIM SO?" Kya ranted, waving her hands wildly, but carefully putting her box down on the washing machine. "I mean, does he WANT me to take out important bits of him that make him breathe? Is he REALLY that stupid?"

"I'd go ask him these things myself, if I were you." Lucas advised, while Tails hid behind an empty cardboard box.

"You're damn right I will!" Kya screamed at him, then threw herself through the portal.

In the other dimension, Sonic was talking about how stupid Knuckles was, when Kya ran into him at a speed he was slightly jealous of.

"Where is the slimy little-" Kya growled, then she saw the slimy little whatever.

Knuckles stood up. "You followed me?"

"Of course I did, you stupid idiot!" She yelled, stomping her way over to him. "I have two things to do to you!"

Knuckles raised his eyebrows and hoped for the best.

"One!" Kya hit him as hard as she could. He fell backwards out of sheer shock. He had expected something else entirely.

"That is for being so stupid that I am surprised that you learned how to breathe!" Kya panted. "I hope I broke your friggen nose!"

"And two?" Knuckles asked, getting back up.

Kya kissed him, hard, ignoring his sore face. "That is for being the only person I could ever actually live with." She told him after she let him go.

Knuckles didn't say anything—he just grabbed her around the waist and kissed her again.

Tails came through the portal. "Oh good, he's still alive."

Lucas followed him. "Well, I have to see the place where my little sister's going to be living." He said when Sonic opened his mouth to ask. "You have nice grass here. And I like the stone temple thing. Very Stonehenge-esque."

Kya and Knuckles ignored them, completely and one hundred percent wrapped up in their own world.

_Two months later…_

Dear Lucas. How are you? I am fine.

Anyway, enough of that crap. Thanks for sending over my school work. I'm just about finished with the last batch; it should be coming to you any day now.

Knuckles and I are very happy on the island together. He is teaching me how to set traps, just like there are in the comic books! He requests that you stop sending those over here, since 'they never get the eyes right' in his opinion, but I don't care. I have to know how they get out of this one!

Tails said that he's working on a portal machine that doesn't make you throw up uncontrollably an hour after you use it, so I'll be coming home for visits more often soon.

Please tell me when Mum and Dad come home for a visit, so that I can come home and pretend I still live there. Do you think that I should bring Knuckles with me and introduce him? ….Yeah, I can imagine your face as you read that last line. And since I want to see that face in real life, Knuckles is coming home.

No, I won't tell them I'm living here—Mum would somehow make the world explode.

Tell everyone I love them and miss them terribly. Remember to feed the fish I got you.

Love, Kya and Knuckles.

PS—I told Rouge the Bat that you thought she was hot, and gave her your picture. Hope you don't mind.

--

There it is! Hope you liked it! Link to the picture--

http : / wolf-howl89 . deviantart . com /art/ KKME -Part- 9- 101113396 Just remember to remove the spaces.

Added note-- While I was working on this (all those long months...shudder), I wrote little small things, not exactly drabbles, because they're not exactly one hundred words, but close enough, yeah? So, I was wondering, should I post them or not? If you want me to, I can get them up in a few days. You all (meaning my wonderful beautiful fans) will just have to tell me. No, don't worry, I won't do anything like, "Fifteen people have to want it, or I won't upload them!", just one person has to ask. However, if fifteen of you WANT me too, then sweet.

Any questions, comments, insults, etc., send 'em to me! Via review, if you don't mind.


	10. Drabbles!

Hey there all of you! I've finally got around to it—gathering up all of these little drabbles and putting them together! Some of them are KKME canon, and some are a more, 'what if?' style of writing. I'll put little explanations on the ones that need it.

Happy reading!

**Ambidextrous Challenge**

--I was challenged to use the word, 'ambidextrous' in a story, so...yeah. And the idea of Kncukels getting words mixed up makes me so happy.

"Hey, it never says if you're left- or right-handed." Kya and Knuckles were sitting alone at home one day, and Kya was reading old game manuals.

"Huh?" Knuckles looked up. "Why do you want to know everything about me?"

"Oh, no reason, no reason." Kya looked down at her hands and blushed slightly. "So, which is it?"

"Both, I think." Knuckles studied his claws.

"Ahh. Ambidextrous."

"…I'm like a frog?"

"…What?"

**Awesome All the Time**

--Kya and Knuckles play video games a LOT. I imagine that here they're playing the mini-games on 'Sonic and the Secret Rings'.

"Knuckles WINS!" the television announced. On the screen, Knuckles danced happily.

"YES! See, told you I'd beat you!" Kya jabbed her finger in Knuckles' chest.

Knuckles threw down the Wiimote in disgust. "You know I'd do better if I could play as myself," he complained. "Your way makes no sense."

"Oh, poor baby." Kya stuck out her tongue playfully. "YOUR way makes no sense – you get to be awesome all the time, you have to let others be the best character SOME of the time!"

Knuckles blushed, crossed his arms, and began to mutter to himself.

Kya chuckled. He was always easier to beat when he was befuddled/embarrassed.

**Corner Safety**

--This one is based entirely on a picture my friend drew of Knuckles and Kya, and I just had to write about how it came to be.

'Twas another normal day in the Morris house – Kya was screaming at an echidna, and Lucas was experimenting in the kitchen.

"Stop being so paranoid! Grow up!" Kya screamed at said echidna. She whirled around, completely prepared to turn a corner and disappear, when Knuckles called after her.

"Wait!"

Kya turned around, expecting an apology. Instead, Knuckles was thinking about something, muttering to himself.

"If she goes around the corner first, then I won't be able to watch her. If I go around first, she'll be behind me, and I can't see her…" He rubbed his chin thoughtfully, then his eyes lit up. "I got it!"

Kya rolled her eyes and sighed, all at the same time. She turned to go around the corner, and felt something small hit her back. She twisted her head, and saw Knuckles clinging to her back. "Knuckles, what the hell?"

"This way, I can keep an eye on you at all times," he said, voice slightly muffled by her back. "Carry on, this'll be perfect!"

Kya opened her mouth to say something, but gave up. Sighing, she turned around the corner, resigning herself to her fate.

**Far Away**

--This was a possible ending. I was planning on having Knuckles go home and live there for a good long time, with him and Kya both being absolutely misrable. But...I liked these guys too much, so I had to have a happier ending!

As far as first kisses go, theirs was nothing special. He turned human, she hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. Didn't even count as a first kiss.

But he found himself obsessing over it for days and weeks to come, reliving the moments when her lips had touched him.

He had promised himself that he would forget about her. He was back on the island, the Emerald was back in place, life was back to normal.

Still, when he stared at the Emerald, he remembered how her eyes turned that colour when she was wearing green. Watching the black birds fly across the sky, he remembered how her hair had shone in the light.

Sitting back by the glow of the Emerald, he finally stopped trying to not think of her.

He thought of her, and missed her.

**Gay Fan Fics**

--I'm not even sure about this one anymore. I think I just wanted to be silly.

_ Honestly_, Kya thought. _Gay fan fics aren't the worst thing in the world. Grow up._

_If they aren't that bad, why aren't you talking out loud? _ The sullen thought came to her.

Kya had been playing around on the computer, when she found a website that advertised as being, "Open to all Knuckles pairings!" Kya had called Knuckles over from his perch on the bookshelf, thinking that it would be fun to see who people paired Knuckles with.

She was sadly mistaken.

While the website WAS open to all pairings, it preferred only one genre- slash. While that in itself was mind-numbingly terrifying (to Knuckles, at least), the favoured pairing was even worse- Knuckles the Echidna/Big the Cat. Complete with fan art. DIRTY fan art.

_You didn't have to see yourself banging a giant, purple, stupid cat._ Knuckles thought from above. After he had had his freak-out (Lucas was beginning to doubt the real NEED of a light on the ceiling anyway) Knuckles had enclosed himself in a tree in the backyard, refusing to come down. Kya had gone outside to join him for two reasons. One-so he would stop yelling through the window, "You alright in there?" and two- so that she could coax him down.

"You're right. Stay in that tree just as long as the images stay in your head." Kya sat down and leaned against the tree, able and willing to handle Knuckles' problems.

**Head Go Boom**

--This one is just...odd. I wrote it because I had been hanging out with my friends the entire night, and tried on shorts that looked good, and...yeah. I also like Knuckles' last line—I dunno why.

"KYA!" Knuckles raced into the room, frantically looking around. "KYA, WHERE ARE YOU?"

"…In the closet." She called from the closet. "You scared me when you came in."

"Well, you scared me!" Knuckles crossed his arms and tried to slow his heartbeat. It always frightened him when he wasn't able to find Kya. "Come out of the closet, right now!"

"…No."

"Why the hell not?"

"I'm wearing ghetto booty shorts, and I don't want you to see me."

"I'm not going to ask what those are. Anyway, come out of the closet!" Knuckles uncrossed his arms and tried to understand what she had just said.

Inside the closet, Kya blushed. Her so-called, "ghetto booty shorts" had…weird effects on people. She happened to be quite curvy, and she looked VERY good in shorts. In short, the effect she had on people was, as her friends had dubbed, "head-splodying, because it was just that HOT."

"Aw, to hell with it!" She said aloud. She charged out of the closet and struck a pose. "My name is Kya Morris, and I have a great ass!"

Knuckles took one at Kya, and ran out of the room, slamming the door behind him, and leaning against knees shaking.

He thought to himself, (making sure that Kya couldn't hear him) 'My name is Knuckles the Echidna, and I can't feel my legs."

**In Sync**

--Awww...Admit it...You love the fluffy stuff!

_Strange_, thought Michelle as she watched Kya and Knuckles go through their routine. _Very strange._

What Michelle thought was strange of course was the fact that those two are completely and utterly in love with each other, and have no idea.

Kya had adjusted her routine for Knuckles. NOTHING made her adjust her routine. It BOTHERED her. But, here she was, doing homework on a Saturday so Sunday was free to be with Knuckles.

Michelle hadn't known Knuckles before this, so she didn't know if he had changed that much. But, watching him now, it was obvious he needed Kya in his life.

The way he moved so she could move freely, before she even began to turn. The way he watched her, and watched all around her at the same time. Without her, he would only be half his being.

_Well_, thought Michelle as she idly kicked her feet. _We've just got to figure out a way so they'll never have to be apart. And, so they wouldn't have to resort to gross animal sex._

"Michelle, what are you staring at?" Michelle looked up guiltily, and almost burst out laughing.

Kya had her hands on her hips, and her, 'I'm SO not amused' face on, and beside her, Knuckles had on the exact same face.

"Nothing, nothing." _Just two complete and utter fools._ She added silently.

Kya and Knuckles turned back to what they were doing, their lives quickly moulding so they were in sync once again.

**Night Time Thinking**

I was having a lot of nightmares at the time of this since I was thinking about Knuckles so much right then, it started to affect my dreams. I get so unhappy after I have nightmares, and this helped, kinda, in a weird way.

"JESUS CHRIST!"

"Huh what?" Knuckles jolted awake. He looked over at Kya, who was staring at him intently. "What are you doing?" He asked mildly.

"You're alive!" She exclaimed, still staring at him.

"Yessss?" Knuckles waited for more When she said nothing, he added, "And?"

"I dreamt you were dead!" Kya poked his cheek for a second or two. Then she burst out crying.

Knuckles sighed, sat up in bed, and pulled her close to his chest. "It's okay, I'm alive. You poked me, I'm alive, it's okay." He soothed, rubbing her back. When Kya's tears had subsided, he asked, "How did I die?"

"Gun wound." She muttered into his chest. "Your face was fine, just the bullet hole. Only about a centimetre big. No blood or anything. No one knew what had happened- You and Sonic were talking about something, and then you were shot. Sonic just kept talking. Then, you fell over, and half of the back of your head was gone." She shuddered, and Knuckles resisted the urge to join her.

"Why do you keep dreaming of bad things happening to me?" He asked. "I mean, I know you love me and all, but still. It's a bit creepy to know the person I'm sleeping with keeps coming up with ways for me to die."

"Dreams tell a lot about a person." Kya mused, still not pulling away from his chest. "I mean, when I was a kid, I dreamt about my mom leaving me places, and her just walking away."

"So, you didn't like being left alone as a kid. Wait." Knuckles had just thought of something. "You like being left alone now."

"And?" Kya asked, pulling away to look at him.

"Does this mean in a few years you're going to like me dead?" Knuckles pulled a few faces.

"I doubt it." Kya lay back down on the bed. "I hope not. That could get really awkward in bed."

"Yeah, maybe just a bit awkward."

**Not A Fruit**

I read something about comparing yourself to fake fruit—it don't bruise easy. I liked it, so I stole it!

"No! Not teaching you, no!"

"Pleease!" Kya held onto Knuckles around the waist. She thought briefly before she had started to cling to him that she was so thankful he was human. "I need to know how to fight, just in case Robotnik kidnaps me again!" Kya clung stubbornly to Knuckles.

"No. See, teaching you requires me doing stuff. Fighting stuff. To you. I'll hurt you." Knuckles crossed his arms and tried to ignore the half-crazed girl hanging onto him.

"Knuckles, I'm not fruit! I don't bruise that easy!" Kya held on tighter. "I don't want you always having to save me," she said, voice slightly muffled by Knuckles. "It's embarrassing."

Knuckles sighed and put his hand on his hips. "I'm your Guardian. I don't mind."

Kya let go of him and stood up suddenly. "Fine!" she snapped. "Fine, just do whatever you want!" She turned around and started to walk away, when Knuckles grabbed her arm. She didn't turn to face him however, so he addressed her back.

"Robotnik will never kidnap you again, because I will not let him. I would rather die than let you get hurt again." He let her arm drop, and he quickly walked away, before she could say anything.

**Physically Improbable**

--He would not be able to stand up. That's all I'm saying.

After a long period of thought, Kya decided that Knuckles was physically impossible. Look at him. Three feet high, skinny legs, GIANT head. He shouldn't be able to walk. And, he was able to GLIDE. How the HELL was that possible?

"My dreadlocks." Knuckles said in answer to Kya's endless questions. "They trap air underneath them, and I'm able to float on top of it."

"…How?"

"I'm not sure. It's just something I've always been able to do." Knuckles rubbed the back of his neck. "One thing that bugs ME, though, it how BENDY you are."

"Bendy?" Kya repeated. "What do you mean, 'bendy'?"

"Bendy. You know, bendy!" Knuckles bent back his wrist. "You're able to bend more than anyone I've ever met! It's creepy."

"I'm flexible!" Kya protested. "It's a good thing!"

Knuckles snorted. "Yeah? Then how come you're always complaining about sore muscles? That, my friend, comes from bending so much."

"True, very true. But, I'm physically able to stand up. Scientists see you in the street and DIE from confusion!" _Beat THAT._ She added silently.

Knuckles examined his claws. "As you've pointed out-many times, in fact- I'm a bright red, talking echidna. Why not add physically impossible to the list?"

Kya, knowing when she had lost, admitted defeat.

**Piece of Adorable CRAP**

Don't even pretend you don't rock out alone in your room.

A stage. Dark.

A single spotlight appears, outlining Kya Morris. She was wearing tight leather pants and a blood-red halter top, showing off her body. Her hair was up in a mohawk, and had coal black eye shadow smudged around her eyes.

A second spotlight appears, revealing Knuckles the Echidna. A bandanna was tied around his head, and he was wearing aviator sunglasses. He held an electric guitar in one hand.

An unseen band kicked in, and they launched into the chorus of Alice Cooper's "House of Fire", with Knuckles playing lead, Kya singing.

"_Building a house of fire baby, building it with our love!_" they howled in unison. "_We are building a house of fire, every time we touch~~~~!_" As they dragged out the last word, they stood back to back and screamed the words at the sky.

"_We are building this house together baby, standing on solid ground! We are building a house of fire that you can't tear down~~~!_" Here Knuckles got a guitar solo, as Kya danced sleazily around the stage.

"_Brick by brick the flames get higher, build it strong with our desire~~_" They both took in a deep intake of breath, and began to scream –

"What the hell are you two doing?"

Kya and Knuckles looked up at the door guiltily. Lucas was looking at the scene in Kya's room with amusement.

Kya, wearing pyjama pants with flies on them, topped with a hoodie from her high school, had her dirty hair in a ponytail, and was screaming into a hairbrush.

Accompanying her on the tennis racket was Knuckles, who had one of Kya's old headbands (zebra print) on his head, keeping his dreadlocks out of his face.

An old Alice Cooper CD was playing the final chorus of "House of Fire" on Kya's stereo.

After being caught in a standstill, Kya said, face bright red, "Shut up. Like you had anything better to do."

Lucas opened his mouth, then thought for a second…

Ten seconds later, he had a pair of sweatpants on his head (for kick-ass long hair) and was screaming "Poison" into a TV remote.

**Practically Perfect in Every Way**

--It's incredably cold where I live in the winter time, and the idea of Knuckels having issues with winter clothing was too cute for me. So I started out writing about that, but then it...morphed.

Lucas read over his column one last time, and decided it was good. He had made "Taco Surprise" last night, and Kya and Knuckles hadn't hated it, so it should be able to be released to the public.

Leaning back in his seat, Lucas decided to take a break from life. Closing his eyes and propping his feet up on his desk, he dozed lightly.

_Now, what else must I do today? _He thought lazily. _Column for tomorrow-done Dinner plans for tonight-done. Kya and Knuckles are-out. Video games-un-played. I think I have something to do._ Deciding on his plans for the day, Lucas started to get out of his chair, gave up, and got more comfortable, when….

SLAM!

"I can't BELIEVE you did that to him! He was being a nice guy!"

"Like hell he was being nice! He said he wanted to take you somewhere!"

"Knuckles, he was hitting on me! That's being nice!"

"Not in my book, it isn't!"

Kya and Knuckles had come home.

Sighing, Lucas got up from his seat, and went to the entry way, where Kya was pulling off her boots, and Knuckles was struggling with coat sleeves.

"Have a nice time?" He asked casually.

"I WAS." Kya said, rolling her eyes at Knuckles. "Until SOMEONE freaked out on me!"

"It was a perfectly legit concern!" Knuckles said hotly, giving up on his winter jacket for now and taking off his knit hat. "He said he wanted to take you places!"

"Yeah, such as the mall!" Kya yelled, stalking off upstairs. "As in, on a date? I assume you've heard of those!" Lucas and Knuckles both flinched as they heard her door slam, and loud music begin to play.

Knuckles began grumbling to himself, and started on trying to take off his jacket again. "Want some help with that?" Lucas asked, after a full minute passed.

"I can do it!" Knuckles snapped, pulling the zipper the wrong way. Realizing he couldn't remove the jacket that way, he snapped a button on the sleeve shut. Then, he pulled the zipper the right way, and got his jacket off, all the way down to the cuff, where one of the buttons he had snapped was keeping his arm in. He put the jacket back on, and tried again.

"Are you sure?" Lucas asked, after watching for five more minutes.

"Positive!" Knuckles barked, giving up for now. He sat down on the floor, and started on the snaps on his boots.

"You, uh, you pull them to the right." Lucas offered helpfully. "Then, you hold onto the boot –yeah, right there on the heel is good- and pull it off, while pulling your foot out. Yeah, there you go."

Knuckles stood up proudly, leaving his boots in a pile on the floor. "I told you I could do it!" He said, starting to walk away, but he tripped over his socks which had been pulled down to his toes when he took his boots off.

Sitting down on the floor beside him, Lucas said to Knuckles, "Having trouble with, um, anything?"

"I don't know what you could possibly mean." Knuckles said, crossing his arms and looking the other direction.

"Oh, you know, anything….not working out the way you planned?" Lucas asked, looking at Knuckles out of the corner of his eye. "I mean, I'm just asking because you and Kya are bickering more now than before."

Knuckles sighed, slumped his shoulders, dropped his arms to his sides, and let his legs flop out in front of him. "I don't know. It's gotten a lot more complicated now that I'm human most of the time."

"I take it you mean more than clothes?" Lucas asked, reaching over and un-zipping the jacket. "Pull your arms out of the sleeves- there you go."

Pushing the jacket away, Knuckles started to complain. "I mean, I'm still her Guardian, I'm supposed to go everywhere with her, right? And, I gotta look after her, I can't just let any Tom, Dick, or Harry try and take her anywhere-"

"Hold on." Lucas interrupted. "Did you just say, "Tom, Dick, or Harry'?"

"It was in 'Working Girl'." Knuckles explained. "Kya and I watched it last night."

"Ah, right."

"Anyway," Knuckles continued. "Every time that I'm with her, and some guy starts to talk to her, and I let him know that I look after her, she gets mad at me!"

"Uh, how do you let him know you look after her?" Lucas asked delicately. "Maybe that's the problem."

Knuckles thought back. "Well, this guy, I took him aside, and told him that I will be with Kya at all times, and he wasn't so good with that."

"Define, 'took him aside'." Lucas asked.

"Pushed him up against a wall." Knuckles admitted.

"And…?" Lucas motioned with his hand for Knuckles to go on.

"…Okay, I didn't exactly say, 'Be with Kya at all times'." Knuckles admitted again. "It was more like…Oh, I don't know…. 'Touch her and I'll kill you'?"

"See, that's your problem." Lucas told him. "Kya, she's a popular girl. Okay, no she's not, but she IS hit on a lot. And, most of these guys, they're perfectly normal, and aren't setting out on hurting her. Almost no one knows that she's the Master Emerald, remember."

"Yeah, I guess you're right…." Knuckles sighed and slumped even more against the wall. "It's just…Everything I do with her seems to not be working."

"I've noticed." Lucas said dryly. Seeing that his humour wasn't appreciated, he tried again. "Well, being with a guy all the time has to be weird for her, you have to remember that."

"But when I was an echidna, she didn't mind at all!" Knuckles protested. "Only now that I'm human, she gets randomly pissed at me."

"True, true." Lucas pressed his fingertips together. "Anything else?" He said finally. "Anything else about Kya that just makes you wanna rip out her heart and eat it?"

Knuckles shook his head. "Nothing?" Lucas pressed. "You can tell me, I'm her brother, I can list a million of those things."

"I can't think of any, other than I think she hates my human body." Knuckles slumped his shoulders again.

"Well…" Lucas tapped a finger against his lip. "Maybe you're doing it to her?"

"Doing what? Being annoying?" Knuckles scrunched his face up in thought. "I don't think so…"  
"Hey, trust me. This thing comes up all the time with some girlfriends of mine."

"Really?" Knuckles asked.

"Oh yeah. I have a girlfriend live with us every once in a while, and then she and Kya start bitching at each other all the time, and mostly it's because of some small habits of the other person." Lucas nodded. "Except of course, with Cassie. She was sent directly from Satan, and I'm a bad person for bringing her into the house."

"If you say so…." Knuckles thought. "I got nothing." He decided. "I can't think of anything that she gets angry with me about."

"Really?" Lucas asked. "Well, maybe she's pissing you off, and you don't even know, and you start acting annoying in retaliation, and then she starts to hate you?"

"I have absolutely no idea what you just said."

"It's all subconscious. Trust me, I work in the media." Lucas nodded knowingly.

"Okay…If I don't know it's happening, how do I know what it is?" Knuckles asked, mind still whirring from what Lucas and he were talking about.

"What about the fact that she insists on being the first to shower each morning, and uses up all the hot water?" Lucas asked, thinking of things that Kya did that pissed him off.

Knuckles shrugged. "I shower at night."

"How at dinner time, she says she's not hungry, and then you catch her eating chips or some garbage an hour later."

"I'm working on getting her to microwave some dinner if she's hungry later. I agree though, she can't eat that junk she loves."

"She gets pissed off at the teacher and complains about her homework all the time."

"I wait for her to finish ranting, and then I help her out with it. Mostly she gets that way when she has a headache, and I know she gets really bad headaches sometimes."

"She never puts her clothes away, just leaves them in the laundry basket for days, so I never get my basket back."

"That helps her stay organized, so she can find the clothes she likes. It never occurs to her you need the basket, when you remind her that you need it, she puts the clothes away right then."

"Leaves her books all over the place and forgets to take them back to the library."

"Hey, at least she's reading, right? She's learning. And, working on her memorization skills. Did you know, she can recite whole conversations from, 'The Princess Bride'?"

"Really? Neat. Anyway, she buys movies and doesn't watch them for months, just leaves them on the coffee table."

"She's waiting for you to have time for her, so you two can watch movies together like you did when you were little."

"She bitches about clothes shopping, and will gladly wear the same jeans for five years if they keep fitting."

"She looks really good in those jeans, and you hate clothes shopping just as much as her."

"She sometimes spends whole days in her pyjamas, and doesn't go outside once."

"She's not a very social person, hell, I'm her Guardian, and sometimes she goes for three hours without talking to me. And, when she's feeling like that, she doesn't want to make laundry for you."

Lucas looked Knuckles straight in the eye. "She really is perfect to you, isn't she."

Knuckles opened his mouth to disagree, then thought for a moment, and nodded. "She really is." He smiled. "She really is."

"Hey, what are we doing?" Kya had come downstairs, and was leaning against the wall, looking at the two of them.

"Nothing." Lucas said, "Complaining about you, sitting on the floor, the usual."

Kya rolled her eyes. "Fuuuunny. Aw, Knuckles you left your socks on the floor again!" She lectured as she picked them up.

"Hey, so did you!" He accused, pointing at the entrance.

Kya looked at her socks. "Oh." She went over to pick them up, and then wadded up the four socks and threw them into a laundry basket sitting on the floor. "You wanna go play some video games?" She asked.

"Only if I get to be myself."

"Oh, as if."

They went up to Kya's room, bickering the entire way, with Lucas watching them from the floor. "This situation could prove awkward." He said aloud.

**Questions**

--I love Knuckles when he's being stupid, but I love him even more when he's being wise and thoughtful.

Knuckles had decided that this "thing" he was in with Kya was too complicated to fully understand.

For starters, he didn't know if he loved her, or was in love with her. There was a difference, he decided. Loving someone could mean that you cared for them – for example, he loved all of his friends. But he wasn't in love with them.

He sighed, and folded his arms behind his head. He looked over to look at Kya, who was sleeping soundly.

He blamed Mitch, mostly. If he hadn't broken Kya's heart (Knuckles still had to destroy the little punk for that), Knuckles wouldn't have started to sleep in Kya's bed. Then, he wouldn't have started to watch her as she slept. Not watching, as in guarding, but watching as in, just, looking at her.

He also wouldn't have started to wonder what it would be like to kiss her, for her to kiss him, what it would feel like as she watched him.

Kya mumbled and turned over in her sleep. Knuckles absentmindedly rubbed her head, soothing her.

They had gotten lax about touching each other, he noticed. When the Master Emerald had first merged with Kya, they didn't touch more than necessary. Now, he was always tapping the back of her leg, to tell her he was there, and she always leaned on him when they were sitting on the couch together. Why was that?

Knuckles frowned, and made a growling noise in the back of his throat. These questions would remain unanswered, just as his questions about his purpose would.

Kya's eyes fluttered open, and she peered up at him. He was sitting on her pillow, keeping an eye on her.

"Sleeeeeep…" she moaned, flinging a half-hearted arm at him, trying to hit him. "If you haven't got your health, you haven't got anything," she mumbled before falling asleep again.

He waited until he was sure she was completely asleep again, and then smiled. Leaning down, his lips brushed her forehead. Then, as he did every night after he kissed her, he snuggled down beside her in bed. Perhaps he would find answers to the rest of his questions tomorrow.

Kya frowned in her sleep, and pulled Knuckles closer. Perhaps his questions wouldn't be answered. But, for now, he was willing to live in doubt.

**Same Difference**

**--**Did I mention how much I love the idea of Knuckles getting words mixed up?

Knuckles slouched into the room where Kya lay on the bed, motionless. He threw himself down on the floor beside her bed, staring at her.

"I don't know if you can hear me." He started in a gravely voice. "But, I think I heard somewhere—from you, probably—that it helps people in your condition to hear a familiar voice."

As he expected, no response.

"I don't think this will help, but it sure as hell won't hurt. And, I'm not gonna say anything personal here, because you won't hear any of it."

Same response as before.

Knuckles then proceeded to tell Kya news of what had happened that day—Lucas's girlfriend came over, and didn't Kya think that Lucas should dump that skinny ass who keeps taking the good seats? Nothing much had happened in the world—at least, nothing important--. Her favourite webcomic had updated, and Knuckles had been thinking, maybe when Kya woke up, they could watch the "Predator" movies again.

His voice trembled as he said this last bit.

Knuckles angrily rubbed his wrist over his eyes as he glared at Kya. "Please wake up." He told her, voice cracking. "Please."

"Knuckles?" Knuckles looked at the door, tears still fresh in his eyes.

Lucas was standing at the door, arms crossed across his chest. "Please leave Kya alone. You know she hates to be bothered when she has a cold."

"…right. What is it when she doesn't EVER wake up?"

"Death?"

"No, still being alive."

"Coma?"

"I always get cold and coma mixed up."

**Who's a Better Person?**

--Knuckles is so much nicer than Kya, it's not even funny. But she's always surprised by that fact.

"You!" Knuckles jumped slightly. He looked over his shoulder fearfully, then sighed when he saw who was talking. "Hello Kya."

Kya stumbled into the room, tripping over her own feet. She glared blurrily at Knuckles. "YOU." Her voice was laced with pure venom.

"Me." Knuckles agreed. He turned back to the soup he was heating for Kya and Lucas.

Kya and Lucas had fallen victim to one of nature's worst—the common cold. Lucas was spending all his time in bed with his laptop, working away at his newspaper column. Kya, however, had taken to roaming around the house in her pajamas, muttering to herself.

Sitting down on the countertop, Kya stared at the back of Knuckles' neck until he felt uncomfortable. "Your soup's almost done." He offered helpfully.

"How come you're not sick?" Kya asked. She was so stuffed up, Knuckles had to work at understanding her. "How come you're so lucky?"

Ladling the hot soup into bowls, Knuckles shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I'm not entirely sure this is lucky." He pushed a bowl of hot broth and a spoon into Kya's hands. "I have to look after you, after all."

Kya decided to ignore the insult, and focus on the fact that she had a lot of pieces of chicken in her soup. She picked those out first to eat, as Knuckles went up to Lucas' room, then she looked for carrot so she could eat all of that now and get it over with.

After searching for a good five minutes, she came to this conclusion: Knuckles had filled her bowl with yummy chicken, and no yucky carrots. This was good.

_Okay_, She thought up at him, where he was gingerly getting rid of used tissues in Lucas' room. _You win._

_Win what? _He asked innocently.

_The contest of who's a better person._

_ Oh THAT. I won that contest when I first went to the store with no shoes and no jacket to get you cold medicine. _

**I HATE Not Being the Most Important Thing in your Life.**

--Again, I stole the title line. I can't help it, I'm a complete thief. This was an excuse to use that line. Also—when I'm wriritng, and I get stuck, I just write silly notes and keep going. That happened right at the end here, but I didn't keep going.

"I thought the Guardian of the Master Emerald was supposed to keep the Emerald happy?" Kya asked as she got off the bed.

"I thought I was." Said Knuckles as Kya came to a stop in front of him.

"Well, according to Tails, I still have some Emerald inside of me, right?" Kya asked, looping her arms around his neck.

"True, he did say that." Knuckles agreed as he wrapped his arms around Kya's waist.

"Well, you made this part of the Emerald feel hate." Kya told him, bringing her face closer to his.

"Yeah?" He asked, staring into her eyes.

"Yeah. I HATE not being the most important thing in your life."

"Oh, well, that can easily be repaired."

"I see. Prove it."

TOTAL REAL FIRST KISS!

**Spot The Point Where I Stopped Caring!**

--I had the idea of Kya being turned into a robot-thing, but I decided I didn't like it. However, I had to try writing it out first. And the point where I gave up on writitng it? You'll notice.

A searing pain went through her body, and she let out the scream she had been holding in. Once the pain stopped, she looked down and saw that her shoes was now made of steel.

Kya pawed at the heel of the steel-shoe with her other foot, and the shoe fell to the floor with a clang. Since she wasn't wearing socks, she saw that the first three of her toes had turned into steel.

She frowned at Robotnik. "That seemed unnecessary."

"What? That should have completely turned you into a robot! Stupid machine must be broken. Robotnik turned to his robotizer, and began to tinker with it.

Knuckles then broke through a wall he had frantically been hitting since her heard Kya scream, and stared down Robotnik. "Oh no you did-int bitch!"

"Oh snap!" Kya yelled from the machine.

"Oh noes!" Robotnik screamed as Knuckles lay the smack down upon him. "I is defeated!"

**An Evil Robotnik Ending**

**--**I wanted to have Robotnik actually be evil and threatening, but this quickly became a bit too...hokey for me after I wrote more on it. And when I ditched the end of this one, I ditched evil Robotnik too. Oh well. Silly egg-shaped men are good too.

"He doesn't care at all for you." The doctor laughed. "You're the Emerald, that's what he cares about!" He leaned in closely, hot breath on Kya's face. "He'll never come for you," he said, voice dripping with disgust. "You're nothing to him."

----This is the point where I skipped a whole lot just so I could get Kya home. I told you I skipped things when I wrote them!

Kya laughed bitterly. "We both know he didn't care at all that I was gone, he only cared about the Emerald. I can see him now – 'The Emerald! Oh my God, the Emerald!'" Kya's voice did a high-pitched squeaky version of Knuckles, and ended with her voice breaking as she started to cry.

"Kya…" Michelle began, uncertain. "When you were gone, he didn't say a word about the Emerald. He only used your name."

'You're worthless to him,' whispered in Kya's mind, 'He'll never come for you,' and fresh tears broke out. "You're lying, stop lying to me!" she cried, when Knuckles crashed into the room.

He raced toward Kya, grabbed her shoulders, and smashed her against the wall. "Did he say that to you?" he shouted. Kya realized Knuckles had heard her remember Robotnik.

Knuckles shook her again. "What did he say? Did he say that to you!" he shouted, angrier than Kya had ever seen him. "Tell me!"

Crying, Kya nodded. Unnoticed, Michelle slipped out of the room.

Knuckles released his grip on Kya's shoulder. Not looking at him, Kya curled up in a ball on her bed, still crying. She didn't see Knuckles sit beside her, so she had no idea what he was doing.

Suddenly, his arms were around her, and she was grabbed to his chest. "You're not worthless!" she heard him whisper. He pushed her away so he could see her face. He smiled. "I'll always come for you. Not the Emerald, you."

Tears pouring down Kya's face, she found she couldn't talk. She launched herself at Knuckles' chest again, almost pushing him over.

He rubbed the back of his head. "You're important to me, of course I'd come for you," he soothed. "The Emerald's just that – an emerald. You're my Kya, that's way more important than any emerald could be."

Kya's tears leaked onto his chest, and she took care to block her thoughts, or maybe she took care to unblock her thoughts, she didn't know anymore. "You're my Knuckles, I need you," she thought repeatedly.

He held her for what seemed like forever and a day, and then she was all right. "You sure?" Knuckles asked. Kya nodded, and wiped her eyes. Knuckles smiled, relieved. "Good. I hope we run into Robotnik before Sonic does."

"Why?" she asked, sniffling slightly.

Knuckles had a grim smile on his face. "So I can kill him for making you think those things."

At that moment, Kya knew that her life as she knew it was over, and there was no going back. That was the moment her life had changed into something new and beautiful.

That was the moment she knew she was in love.

Well, that's the end of those drabbles! I know I have more in my bedroom somewhere, but I'm not quite sure. I know a good long one was about if Knuckles went back to Angel Island and then managed to come back here, and how Kya reacted.

Hope you enjoyed these ones! Feel free to tell me which one you liked best, okay?


End file.
